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Biblical Introduction Series 

The Synoptic Gospels 
and the Book of Acts 



By 

D. A. HAYES 



Professor of New Testament Interpretation in the Graduate School of Theology 
Garrett Biblical Institute 




THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI 



n> 



2&* 



Copyright, 1919, by 
D. A. HAYES 



THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK EVER WRITTEN 

Copyright, 19 13, by 

D. A. HAYES 

THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 

Copyright, 1912, by 

D. A. HAYES 



Lc Control Numbej 




tm P 96 031648 

APR 14 iyb 
©CLA5152 



TO 

HENRY BUTLER SCHWARTZ 

ONCE MY ROOMMATE 

ALWAYS A MISSIONARY 

FOR LONG THE WHOLE WHITE POPULATION 

OF THE LU-CHU ISLANDS 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword n 

PART I 

"THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK EVER WRITTEN" 
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 

I. Some Estimates of the First Gospel 17 

II. Matthew 19 

1. His Name. 

2. His Relationships. 

3. His Biography. 

4. Traditions Concerning Him. 

5. The Man and His Character. 

6. His Fitness for His Work. 

III. The Book and Some of Its Characteristics 39 

1. The Gospel for the Jews. 

2. The Gospel of Fulfillment. 

3. The Gospel of Righteousness. 

4. The Gospel of the Kingdom. 

5. The Gospel of Jesus the King. 

6. The Gospel of Gloom. 

7. The Official Gospel. 

8. The Gospel of Hope for the Gentiles. 

9. The Gospel of the Church. 

10. The Gospel of the Publican. 

11. The Gospel of Systematic Arrangement. 

12. The Gospel of the Threes and Sevens. 

13. The Gospel of Dreams. 

14. The Gospel of the Five Great Discourses. 

15. The Gospel of the Four Great Mountains. 

IV. The Man and the Book 83 

V. Peculiar Portions 88 

VI. The Aim of the Gospel 89 

VII. The Gospel's Affinities among the New Testament 

Books 91 

VIII. Outline of the Gospel 93 

IX. Time and Place of Writing 95 

7 



5 CONTENTS 

PART II 

THE MOST AUTHENTIC GOSPEL 

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 

PAGE 

I. The Author 99 

1. His Name. 

2. Facts of His Life. 

3. His Character. 

4. Traditions Concerning Him. 

II. Traditions as to the Writing of the Gospel 1 19 

III. Characterizations of the Gospel 125 

1. The Gospel for the Latin Peoples. 

2. The Gospel of the Strenuous Life. 

3. The Gospel of Repeated Retirements. 

4. The Gospel of Vivid Description. 

5. The Disciple Gospel. 

6. Peter's Gospel. 

7. The Gospel of the Strong Son of God. 

8. The Gospel of Service. 

IV. Noteworthy Additions to the Gospel Narrative. .... 155 
V. The Style of the Gospel 158 

VI. The Most Authentic and Authoritative Gospel 159 

VII. The Appendix to the Second Gospel, Mark 16. 9-20. . 164 

PART III 
"THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK EVER WRITTEN" 
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 
I. The Author 177 

1. The New Testament Data. 

2. The Name "Luke." 

3. Luke, the Companion of Paul. 

4. Luke, the Physician. 

5. Luke, the Musician. 

6. Luke, the Artist. 

7. Luke, the Gentile. 

8. Luke, Citizen of Antioch. 

9. Luke, the Freedman. 

10. Luke in Later Tradition. 

11. An Outline Biography. 

II. Sources of the Gospel 199 

III. Date of the Gospel 202 

IV. Place of Writing 204 



CONTENTS 9 

PAGE 

V. Characterizations of the Gospel 205 

1. The Gospel for the Gentiles. 

2. The Gospel of an Educated Man. 

3. The Gospel of the Physician. 

4. The Gospel of Childhood. 

5. The Gospel of Womanhood. 

6. The Gospel for the Poor. 

7. The Gospel for the Outcasts. 

8. The Pauline Gospel. 

9. The Gospel of Jesus, our Brother-Man. 
10. The Gospel of Praise. 

VI. The Gospel and the Man Luke 264 

PART IV 
THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 

I. Definitions 269 

II. Resemblances 270 

III. Differences 276 

IV. Responsibilities 283 

V. Aids 286 

VI. Theories 289 

VII. Conclusions 294 

PART V 
THE BOOK OF ACTS 
I. Name of the Book 303 

1. The Acts of Peter and Paul. 

2. The Acts of the Ascended Lord. 

3. The Acts of the Holy Spirit. 

4. The Acts of the Missionary Church. 

5. The Acts of the Methodist Church. 

II. Importance of the Book 311 

1. As a Church History. 

2. As a Help to Faith. 

3. As a Manual of Revivals. 

4. As a Biography of Paul. 

III. Noticeable Features of the Book 318 

1. Omissions. 

2. Parallelisms. 

3. Accuracy. 

IV. Author and Sources of Information 333 

Bibliography. 337 

Indexes 343 



FOREWORD 

So many volumes have been published in this field that 
it may seem a work of supererogation to add to the list. Our 
only excuse for doing so is that we have made a new pre- 
sentation and arrangement of the existing material, and 
that we have attempted to give it added interest and life 
by joining with it a study of the personalities of the writers 
involved and of the influence of their personalities upon 
their books. As far as we know, this has not been done 
before in the same manner or to the same degree. 

One of the writer's students gave a series of lectures in a 
Western college upon Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 
and he reports that at the end of the course the president of 
the school thanked him for them and said: "Do you know, 
I never more than half believed before that those evangel- 
ists were real men ! Now they will be living personalities 
for me." That has been one aim in this and the preced- 
ing volumes — to give added interest to the study of the New 
Testament books, because in them we were able to see the 
manifested characters of the men who wrote them, and to 
realize that however little we might know of these authors, 
they yet were not mere shadows or myths, but real men with 
real messages taken out of their own real experience in life. 
Too many people have only half believed that these authors 
were real men, and for that reason they may have found 
themselves only half interested in their writings. 

We may claim whatever added interest there may be in 
a study of the New Testament books from the standpoint 
of the personalities of their authors as the differentiat- 
ing characteristic of these volumes on New Testament 

ii 



12 FOREWORD 

Introduction. At least they attempt to introduce both 
the writers and the books. Therefore we called the first 
volume Paul and His Epistles, and the second John and His 
Writings; and in this volume we combine the study of the 
men Matthew, Mark, and Luke, with the study of their 
books. Behind each of these writings we have found and 
have attempted to point out a living man whose personal 
experience and individual character were manifest in and 
through his written words. Every book is likely to be in 
some measure an autobiography. The books discussed in 
this volume are continuously suggestive of personal traits. 

There are those who deny that the Gospels were written 
by any of the men with whose names they are connected 
now, and to such people our method will seem wholly aside 
from the mark. There are others who so stress the original 
sources and so divide up the existing Gospels among these 
sources, and then add to them such an indefinite number of 
editors and revisers as largely, if not wholly, to lose sight of 
any single personality in connection with them. Yet the 
Gospels themselves persist in maintaining such individuality 
of character and such unity of style and composition as to 
belie all attempts to partition them among many hands. One 
man has put his stamp upon each, and from however many 
sources he may have compiled his material, and however 
many editors and revisers may have made minor changes in 
his work, the single personality still dominates each book 
and makes it worthy to be called by his name. 

We agree with Peake when he says concerning the second 
Gospel: "In the case of all the synoptists they are corrobo- 
rated by unbroken tradition, and no plausible reason can be 
suggested why Mark should have been chosen for the 
authorship of this Gospel if he had no hand in it. . . . It 
is of course possible that the second Gospel is the work of 
a later writer incorporating an earlier work of Mark, as Von 
Soden and Schiirer think, but the uniformity of style makes 
it more probable that we have to do with the same author 



FOREWORD 13 

throughout." 1 What he says of the Gospel according to 
Mark seems to us to be equally true of the Gospels accord- 
ing to Matthew and Luke. 

We agree with Zahn when he asserts, "An oral tradition 
which was accepted so early and so universally by friend and 
foe alike, as was the tradition that the Gospels used by the 
church were written by the apostles Matthew and John, 
and by Mark and Luke, the disciples of the apostles, must 
have arisen from actual facts, because there is nothing in the 
books themselves which would necessarily have given rise 
to the unanimous tradition regarding their authors," 2 and 
again: "It follows, therefore, that the tradition associated 
with the four Gospels from the time when they began to cir- 
culate, and which was not attacked during the entire period 
from 70-170 even by hostile critics, of whom these books had 
no lack even at this early date, is based, not upon learned 
conjectures, but upon facts which at that time were incon- 
trovertible/' 3 

Of course the titles to our Gospels were not affixed by 
the authors themselves, but, as Henry Latimer Jackson has 
said : "Those who prefixed the titles regarded, and meant to 
indicate, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as authors of the 
works which set forth the one Gospel. . . . The tradition 
of the names of the authors comes to us from a very early 
time, and it would be uncritical to abandon an early and 
continuous tradition of this kind, unless good reason could 
be given for doing so." 4 Such good reason thus far has not 
been produced by the most strenuous effort of the most 
venturesome criticism. Therefore, we have proceeded upon 
the basis of the trustworthiness of the traditional ascription 
of authorship in these books and our own studies have 
tended to establish this trustworthiness only the more firmly 

1 Peake, A Critical Introduction to the New Testament, p. 121. 
1 Zahn, Introduction to the New Testament, vol. 11, p. 391. 
" Zahn, op. cit., p. 392. 
4 Cambridge Biblical Essays, p. 427. 



i 4 FOREWORD 

in our own faith. These men speak too plainly through 
their writings for anyone to fail to recognize their voices 
unless his ears already are filled with the din of the mutually 
destructive contentions of chronic criticism. When the 
books are allowed to speak for themselves their testimony 
seems clear. 

It remains only to say that most of the material found in 
the discussion of the third Gospel and of the synoptic prob- 
lem already has appeared in print and is reproduced in re- 
vised form in this volume with the permission of the publish- 
ers. It is in the hope that the readers of this book will find 
it a real help in their study of the synoptic Gospels and the 
book of Acts that we now send it out with the prayer that it 
may increase the knowledge of and the reverence for and the 
delight in this portion of the New Testament revelation of 
the grace of our God. 



PART I 

THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK EVER 

WRITTEN" : THE GOSPEL ACCORD- 

ING TO MATTHEW 



PART I 

"THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK EVER 
WRITTEN": THE GOSPEL ACCORD- 
ING TO MATTHEW 

I. Some Estimates of the First Gospel 

i. Renan said that the Gospel according to Matthew was 
"the most important book of Christendom, the most im- 
portant book which has ever been written!' x 

2. We find this conclusion confirmed by a more recent 
authority. Jiilicher, in his Introduction to the New Testa- 
ment, says: "Certainly, Matthew has become the most im- 
portant book ever written. ... It has exerted its enor- 
mous influence upon the church because it was written by a 
man who bore within himself the spirit of the growing 
Church Universal, and who, free from all party interests, 
knew how to write a catholic Gospel ; that is to say, a Gospel 
destined and fitted for all manner of believers." 2 

3. This catholicity of its spirit has impressed a still more 
recent writer, and has led him to a similar conclusion con- 
cerning the relative importance of this Gospel. Von Soden 
declares, "It points onward to the development toward 
Catholicism; hence it became the chief Gospel, the work 
which took the lead in guiding this development, and in so 
far no book ever written is of greater historical import- 
ance." 3 Others have spoken in equally unmeasured terms 
of praise of this book. 

4. Zahn declares : "In greatness of conception, and in the 

1 Les Evangiles, p. 212. 

'Jiilicher, Einleitung, p. 314. 

* Von Soden, History of Early Christian Literature, p. 199. 

17 



18 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

power with which a mass of material is subordinated to 
great ideas, no writing in either Testament, dealing with a 
historical theme, is to be compared with Matthew. In this 
respect the present writer would be at a loss to find its equal 
also in the other literature of antiquity." 4 

5. Keim, after calling our first Gospel "a grand old granitic 
book," says that we find in it "the simple grandeur of monu- 
mental writing, antique history, immeasurably effective be- 
cause it is nature itself, because it does not aim at being 
effective." 5 

6. Dean Farrar repeats this in a characteristic paragraph. 
He declares that "the book carries with it internal evidence 
of its own sacredness. How could the unlettered Galilsean 
publican have written unaided a book so 'immeasurably 
effective'? How could he have sketched out a tragedy 
which, by the simple divineness of its theme, dwarfs the 
greatest of all earthly tragedies? How could he have com- 
posed a Passion music which, from the flutelike strains of 
its sweet overture to the 'multitudinous chorale' of its close, 
accumulates with unflagging power the mightiest elements 
of pathos and of grandeur? Why would the world lose less 
from the loss of Hamlet, and the Divina Commedia, and the 
Paradise Lost together, than from the loss of this brief book 
of the despised Galilaean? Because this book is due not to 
genius, but to revelation ; not to art, but to truth. 

"The words of the man are nothing, save as they are the 
record of the manifestation of God. The greatness of the 
work lay, not in the writer, but in Him of whom he wrote ; 
and in this, that without art, without style, without rhetoric, 
in perfect and unconscious simplicity, he sets forth the facts 
as they were. He is 'immeasurably effective' because he 
nowhere aims at effectiveness. He thought of nothing less. 
Though we find in his book the 'simple grandeur of monu- 
mental writing,' he brought to his work but three intellec- 

4 Zahn, Introduction to the New Testament, vol. ii, p. 556. 
6 Keim, Jesus of Nazara, i, p. 73. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 19 

tual endowments : the love of truth, an exquisite sensibility to 
the mercy of God and the misery of man, and a deep sense 
of that increasing purpose which runs through the ages. 
And thus endowed by the Holy Spirit of God, he has given 
us this unique History, so genuinely human, and therefore, 
in all its parts, so genuinely divine; a mighty, because a 
simply truthful, record of the words and deeds of Him who 
was both God and man." 6 

We may not be ready to agree with any of these estimates, 
taken as a whole, and yet they may be sufficient to convince 
us that the Gospel according to Matthew is a most notable 
book, according to the judgment of most able and competent 
authorities, a book worthy of our study in any detail, and a 
book whose author must have been a most notable man. 
All ancient times agreed that the author was Matthew, and 
all modern efforts to disprove the unanimous testimony of 
antiquity have fallen far short of conclusiveness. Therefore 
we begin our study with some notice of this man. 

II. Matthew 

1. His Name. His name was Levi, ^V.; but this original 
Hebrew name, recorded in Mark 2. 14 and Luke 5. 27, seems 
to have been replaced after his call into the discipleship of 
Jesus with the new name "Matthew," Maddalog, from the 
Hebrew "^l? or STJHS, equivalent to the Greek Geodwpo?, 
Theodore or Theodoretus or Dorotheus or Adeodatus, and 
meaning "the gift of Jehovah," or "the gift of God." 

At the time of his call Simon was given his new name 
Cephas or Peter, 7 and this new name displaced the old in 
the usage and memory of the Christian Church. Saul, the 
greatest persecutor of the early church, became the greatest 
apostle in that church ; and the church came to know him by 
a new name, Paul. Here is another apostle to whom a new 



6 Messages of the Books, pp. 47, 48. 

7 John 1. 42. 



20 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

name is given as he enters the apostolate ; and the new name 
has so far displaced the old that the old name is well- 
nigh forgotten in the church of to-day. It is fitting that the 
first book of our canon of the New Covenant, the first book 
of our New Testament, should be written by a man with a 
new name. This is not a Levitical revelation, a Gospel 
according to Levi. That belonged to the Old Testament. 
This is the Gospel according to Matthew, the Gospel of the 
new name to be given to every Christian, 8 the Gospel accord- 
ing to the new Gift of God. Our New Testament is begun 
by this man with the new name. 

2. His Relationships, (i) In Mark 2. 14 we read that 
Levi was the son of Alphasus. In Mark 3. 18, in the list of 
the apostles, Matthew's name occurs, followed by that of 
Thomas and then by that of James the Less; and James is 
said to be the son of Alphaeus. If this Alphseus is the same 
as the one mentioned in the preceding chapter, it follows that 
Matthew and James the Less were brothers. This relation- 
ship seems probable, at least. In Mark 15. 40 Mary is said 
to be the mother of James the Less. Mary then is the 
mother of Matthew. 

(2) We notice that in Mark's list of the apostles the name 
of Thomas comes between the names of these two brothers. 
We notice further that in all of the synoptical lists of the 
apostles 9 the names of Matthew and Thomas are joined to 
form the fourth pair; and of the three preceding pairs we 
know that two, Peter and Andrew, and James and John, 
were paired because they were brothers. We find, again, 
that in John 11. 16 and 21. 2, Thomas is called Didymus or 
The Twin. Why was he called The Twin? Whose twin 
was he? It lies at hand to say that he was Matthew's twin 
brother. Then we understand why he always is named with 
Matthew in the synoptical lists, and why his name should 
follow that of Matthew and precede that of James, who 

8 Rev. 2. 17. 

"Mark 3. 18; Matt. 10. 3; Luke 6. 15. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 21 

was Matthew's brother. Thomas was the brother of James 
the Less and the twin brother of Matthew; and therefore 
he was called Thomas Didymus, or Thomas the Twin. Then 
three of the twelve apostles were own brothers, Matthew, 
Thomas, and James the Less; and two of these were twin 
brothers, Matthew and Thomas Didymus. 10 

It may be that we have not yet exhausted the possible 
relationships suggested for Matthew in the New Testament. 
(3) In Mark 15. 40 we read that among the women behold- 
ing the crucifixion were "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the 
mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome." In 
John 19. 25 we find it stated that "there were standing by 
the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary 
the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." Was the mother 
of James the Less and of Matthew this sister of the mother 
of Jesus? Church tradition said that Matthew was a kins- 
man of Jesus. 11 Could it be that Matthew's mother was 
Mary's sister, and that Matthew and Jesus were cousins? 
This does not seem to us very probable. We will be content 
to believe that it is possible that Alphaeus was the father of 
Matthew, and Mary his mother, and Thomas his twin 
brother, and James the Less his younger brother, and that 
Joses was a brother possibly younger still. 

It is just possible that "Joses" was another name for 
"Thomas." He may have had two names as well as 
Matthew. It is barely possible that Mary the mother of 
Jesus had a sister named Mary who was the mother of these 
three or four boys. But the likelihood that there were two 
sisters both named Mary is so precarious that we do not 
give it much credence. If these brothers were not cousins 
of Jesus, they were his fellow townsmen at Capernaum. 
They probably were well acquainted with Jesus and his 
family, as well as with those other brother-pairs, Peter and 
Andrew, and James and John. With these they must have 

10 So Weiss concludes, Leben Jesu, vol. ii, pp. 80, 81. 
"Farrar, The Messages of the Books, p. 29. 



22 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

formed a very compact group of friends and fellow towns- 
men in the apostolate. 

3. His Biography. The New Testament tells us nothing 
more about Matthew except the account of his call and the 
feast in connection with it. 12 Save in the apostolic lists his 
name never occurs again in the sacred book. All we know 
of him we must gather from these short paragraphs. Since 
our sources of information are so meager, we will look at 
these paragraphs in detail. We notice first Matthew's own 
account of his call. "And as Jesus passed by from thence, 
he saw a man, called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll : 
and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and fol- 
lowed him." 13 

With the simplicity and the brevity characteristic of these 
Gospels the whole of this wonderful narrative is crowded 
into these two sentences — "Jesus saw the publican Matthew, 
and said to him, Follow me," and "Matthew the publican 
left all and followed him." What a simple transaction that 
seems to be, and yet what a marvelous occurrence it really 
was ! No wonder that Matthew makes it, even though it be 
in this very abbreviated form, a matter of record in his Gos- 
pel, for it is the very heart of the Gospel to him. The mo- 
ment set before us here was the crisis moment of his life. It 
meant moral redemption to him ; it meant eternal salvation to 
him ; it meant everything to him. It was the moment of de- 
cision between light and darkness, life and death, heaven and 
hell. His immortal destiny for one moment hung wavering. 
A divine voice came crashing in upon his soul, unexpectedly, 
in the very midst of his business. For a moment he may have 
been bewildered, hesitant ; or there may not have been even 
a moment's delay. He rose to his feet, cast one swift glance 
around upon his belongings, deliberately turned his back 
upon them; and leaving all his chances of worldly prefer- 
ment and all his sinful past behind him, he faced toward 

12 Matt. 9. 9-19; Mark 2. 14-22; Luke 5. 27-39. 
18 Matt. 9. 9. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 23 

Jesus and followed after him. That was all, but that was 
everything. Matthew followed the Lord through life, 
through death, and through the infinite heights of heaven. 
He sits on one of the twelve thrones there to-day. 

Let us look at this Jew as he sits there at the place of toll, 
while Jesus is approaching him, coming down the Caper- 
naum road toward the tax-receiver's booth. Matthew is a 
man of strong personal character, capable of standing alone 
if need be against all the popular tides of the time. For 
financial or other reasons he has chosen to cut himself off 
from his people, and to ally himself with the hated and 
despised class of publicans or taxgatherers, many of them 
the tools of the foreigners, the representatives of the Roman 
conquerors, hated more than the Romans themselves because 
they were renegade Jews, traitors to the cause of home rule, 
political apostates instead of patriots. Matthew himself is 
in the employ of Herod Antipas ; and his place of toll stands 
at the point where the great Damascus road enters the ter- 
ritory of Herod, at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee. 
He sits there at his desk with firm-set mouth and gloomy 
brow; and his fellow-countrymen come to pay their un- 
willing tribute, cursing the rule of Herod Antipas in their 
hearts and utterly despising this Jew who has so far forgot- 
ten his loyalty to his own nation as to lend himself to the 
oppressor's aid. They treat him with the contempt they feel 
he deserves ; and Matthew, as stiff-necked and proud-hearted 
as they, resents their demeanor and exacts the last farthing 
of tribute they owe. 

It was something like the state of affairs in the American 
colonies when they were preparing for the Declaration of 
Independence and the American Revolution. The Stamp 
Act had been passed by the English Parliament; and it was 
to go into effect on the first day of November, 1765. All the 
colonies were aroused into intense indignation ; and they 
declared that taxation without representation was tyranny 
unendurable, When the first day of November arrived, an 



24 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

excited mob of patriots surrounded the house of the acting- 
governor of New York, Cadwalleder Colden, and demanded 
that he deliver up to them all the stamped paper forwarded 
him from England in preparation for the levying of the tax ; 
but Cadwalleder Colden had a will of his own. He was 
there as the servant and the representative of the king, and 
he refused to accede to their demand. Then all the hatred 
of the mob vented itself upon him, and they hung him in 
effigy and they burned his fine coach near the present Bowl- 
ing Green and they threw the effigy into the bonfire. It 
must have been something of the same feeling which the 
intensely patriotic Jews cherished toward such men as 
Matthew, the taxgatherers of the tyranny against which the 
whole nation was ripening for revolt. 

It was something as if, on Sherman's march to the sea, 
when the Union troops had taken possession of a town, some 
Southerner, born and bred in the South, had suddenly 
espoused the cause of the Federal troops, had opened his 
house for the entertainment of the officers, and had 
assisted in foraging expeditions and had made himself offi- 
cious in pointing out the place where there were hidden and 
abundant supplies. The Southerners would have hated the 
Yankee soldiers in all probability ; but their intensest hatred 
would have been reserved for their renegade brother, who 
ought to have stood with them but who had chosen to ally 
himself with the enemy instead. They would have felt like 
treating him to a coat of tar and feathers and riding him 
out of town on a rail as soon as the troops were gone. Can 
we imagine some Belgian currying favor with the German 
conquerors in Antwerp and giving them his assistance and 
service in the collection of the taxes imposed upon his coun- 
trymen? Can we imagine how the Belgian patriots would 
regard such a man? In the same way the Jewish publican 
was a turncoat, a political apostate, a renegade, a traitor; 
and his hand was against every man and every man's hand 
was against him. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 25 

It was a hard life the Jewish publican led. He was a 
lawbreaker by the very necessities of his occupation, an out- 
cast from his people, an alien to his own nation, a profes- 
sional Sabbath-breaker with the Gentiles, and yet a Jew. He 
was despised by those whom he served and despised still 
more by those whom he helped to oppress. He often must 
have wished to be free from his task, since every day was so 
filled with annoyances and unpleasantnesses; but there was 
no hope of release. The publican had crossed the Rubicon, 
and there was no turning back. The shadow of his crime 
rested heavily upon him henceforth through life. He was 
banished from his brethren, socially, politically, religiously 
ostracized by them as long as he lived. 

However, strange things had been happening here in 
Capernaum. One of Matthew's fellow townsmen had begun 
to show himself very different from his neighbors in every- 
thing. He was different from them in spirit and life, in 
speech and behavior. He was full of love, instead of hate ; 
full of gentleness, forbearance, forgiveness, instead of 
haughtiness, exclusiveness, and contempt. He had a place in 
his heart for the weary and the heavy-laden, the publican 
and the sinner, the outcast and the lost ; and he was a man of 
mighty power. He had opened blind eyes and restored 
palsied limbs. He had done more than that; he had cured 
the leprosy, and that was an incurable disease. The fame 
of these things had spread through the land. The population 
of Capernaum was amazed beyond measure, and they said, 
"We never saw it on this fashion; what new thing is this 
which has appeared in our midst ?" 

Matthew had been amazed with the rest. He had heard 
of these wonders ; and he may have seen some of them with 
his own eyes. He doubtless had listened to this fellow 
townsman and his heart had been impressed with the con- 
viction that this man spake as never man spake before him 
and that he had in him a power and an authority which 
were divine. He had sat there at the place of toll day 



26 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

after day and had pondered these things within him; and 
he had chafed under the heavy burden of his nation's repro- 
bation which his self-chosen occupation had imposed upon 
him; and he had heartily wished himself free from it all. 
He even had wondered if this gospel of Jesus of Nazareth 
might not be for him ; if, in following this new Teacher, he 
might not find his way back into happiness and peace and 
heaven. It may have been weeks or months that he had 
been under conviction, the certainty growing within him that 
this Jesus could give him all his heart desired ; and to-day, 
as he looked down the road and saw the Wonder-worker 
approaching, his heart beat fast with vague anticipation, 
for somehow or other he felt that the crisis of his life had 
come. 

A publican who was passing by may have halted for one 
moment at the booth and said to him : "Matthew, have you 
heard the latest news? This Jesus has been teaching up 
here in the town ; and a great multitude thronged the whole 
house where he was. There were Pharisees and doctors of 
divinity all the way from Jerusalem and out of every town 
of Galilee and Judaea, such a crowd as Capernaum has not 
seen in many a day; and four friends brought a man sick 
of the palsy and stretched out at full length on his couch, in 
the hope that this Jesus might heal him. They could not 
get in ; the house was packed close, and the doorways were 
jammed full of the people; and what did they do but climb 
up to the roof and make a hole in the tiling and let the 
palsied man down from above with ropes! You ought to 
have seen the astonishment of the crowd inside ; the doctors 
of divinity all frowned at this unusual procedure. 

"Jesus looked at the man in all calmness imaginable, and 
told him that his sins were forgiven him. Then a murmur 
of indignation ran round the whole circle of scribes and 
Pharisees and doctors, and they all said that that was pure 
blasphemy; but the Teacher turned on them, and his eyes 
flashed a little as he smiled in his own quiet way, and he 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 27 

said to them, 'You do not believe me when I tell you that 
this man's sins are forgiven him ; would you believe me if I 
said to you that his strength was restored? I will compel 
your faith that far at least. You must believe what your 
own eyes see for themselves.' Then he said to the palsied 
man, 'Rise up, and walk !' and the palsied man stood up and 
took his bed on his back, and the crowds parted before him 
as they would have shrunk away from a ghost, and he 
walked away through them and went straight to his home! 
And the people are all saying, 'Israel never saw anything 
like it before ; we believe that this man can do anything he 
says he can do, even to the forgiveness of sins.' " 

Matthew listened, and in the depths of his own heart he 
said: "I believe. He can forgive sins. The power of God 
is with him. I wish I could be with him too." Then he 
heard the commotion of the multitude approaching down 
the road, and he looked out and saw the Master at the head 
of the throng; and there was an unutterable longing within 
him to cut loose from this business and to leave all his past 
life behind him forever, and there was a vague yearning for 
something better and higher, something nobler and more 
satisfying; and it was all apparent in his eager face, as he 
saw the Master coming up and going by. The Master saw 
him; and he paused for one moment and looked into the 
depths of this man's heart through the depths of his eye, and 
he saw that this heart was prepared for apostleship. Then 
the Master said, "Matthew, follow me!" And Matthew 
arose, left all, and followed him. The die was cast ; the deci- 
sion was made for time and for eternity. That was the be- 
ginning of lifelong discipleship and then of eternal beati- 
tude. Matthew follows the Master to-day. 

Do we realize how wonderful it was, not that Matthew 
followed the Lord, but that the Lord asked Matthew to 
follow him? It was putting his then popular cause under 
the popular ban. If he added to his intimate associates a 
publican, a taxgatherer, a renegade, an apostate, making 



28 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

him one of the apostolic twelve, it would arouse inevitably 
the prejudice of the whole Jewish nation against him, and 
it would endanger seriously the success of his cause. Our 
Lord never paid any attention to the maxims of merely 
worldly wisdom. He looked only at the heart, and he cared 
nothing for the past history. He was absolutely indifferent 
to antecedents, external connections, or social position. All 
that he asked w r as the faith which would follow him. 

Matthew had that faith, and that settled the matter with 
Jesus. All disciples looked alike to him. They all looked 
good to him, if they were good disciples. If they were ready 
to obey and follow his command, he asked nothing about 
their past occupation or their present social standing. God 
was no respecter of persons. In the kingdom of God which 
he had come to proclaim religious privileges were to be free 
to all alike. Rich and poor, Pharisee and publican, priest 
and prostitute were equally welcome. They must come in 
on the same terms and then they could share and share alike. 

In all probability Matthew thoroughly understood this 
attitude of the Master, for he immediately determined to 
celebrate the close of his career as a publican and the begin- 
ning of his new life as a disciple with a great feast in his 
own home, and he invited all of his old friends to this feast, 
all the publicans and the sinners of the town ! 

Most likely Jesus never had seen so many disreputable 
characters, brought together under one roof and sitting at 
one table, before ; but he did not hesitate one moment to take 
his place at the table with them. It was one of the happiest 
occasions of his life. Here was a disciple capable of a 
whole-hearted surrender of everything to the cause ; and his 
house and all his resources were placed at the Master's dis- 
posal to-day. Here was a company of social outcasts, 
hungry of heart and eager for help some of them, and all of 
them needing the assurance of the Father's love and of the 
Great Physician's ability and willingness to heal them of 
their hurt. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 29 

There across the table was a man of evil countenance, 
bent only upon gorging himself with all the good things 
placed within his reach. Could a word be spoken to that 
glutton which would arouse him to some perception of 
higher things? There at the far end of the line was that 
woman of the gaudy raiment and the painted face and the 
painfully conciliating smile. Surely she had a good heart, 
hidden behind that courtesan exterior. Surely she was 
capable of great devotion; she could love, if she had a 
chance, if she ever found any man who was not a beast. 

It was such an opportunity as Jesus constantly coveted. 
He reclined at the table and quietly talked about the good 
things of the Kingdom and the manifold proof of the 
Father's immeasurable love. At last every eye was fastened 
upon him and every ear was attentive to his speech. At last 
the hard hearts began to throb with new hope, even while 
the flush of shame mounted into faces long unused to blush- 
ing but accustomed to brazening it out in the sight of the 
world. 

Jesus talked on ; and the glutton stopped swilling his wine 
and listened until he loathed himself and all his past life, 
and he said to his own soul : "I am one of the swine, and I 
have lived swinishly all my days. I have given most of my 
thought to my meat and my drink ; but here is a man whose 
meat and whose drink it is to do the will of the Father who 
sent him. Other men have despised me and called me a sot. 
This man does not hesitate to cast his pearls before me, 
even though he must have seen at this very table that I sat 
among the swine and was fain to fill myself with the swine's 
meat. In the presence of his temperance I come to myself. 
I realize that I am capable of better, much better, things. 
I will arise and come to this Father of whom he speaks. 
Henceforth I will seek first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness as long as I live." Jesus saw the light of a 
new manhood suddenly flash into that man's eye, and his 
soul rejoiced at the sight. 



30 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

He talked on, and a hush fell upon the whole assembly, 
and many held their breath in tense expectation, for it 
seemed that God and heaven had drawn very near. That 
woman who was a sinner burst into sobbing, and the hot 
tears plowed their way as through furrows of paint down 
her cheeks. She hid her face in her mantle and there she 
vowed within her own soul: "I will take all my ill-gotten 
gains and I will purchase with them an alabaster cruse of 
precious ointment; and I will watch my opportunity and 
some time I will pour it all out at his feet. It will be my inex- 
pressible libation to Purity, incarnate in him and enthroned 
henceforth in my heart. It will be the symbol of my infinite 
abhorrence of the past and my uttermost devotion to the 
pure and the good. He will not refuse the gift. He will 
not spurn it as the product of tainted wealth. He will accept 
it as his due. He will love me freely, even as the Father 
loves. He will forgive my many sins, and I will go in peace 
to live a life which is pure and clean." 

Jesus saw the tears, and his soul rejoiced in the sight; and 
he said: "Repentance and faith are all He requires to enter 
in. Matthew has begun the new life to-day, and he celebrates 
the event with this feast. He has left all to follow me ; and 
he invites you, all of you, to join with him in this new alle- 
giance. This house is the very sanctuary of the Most High. 
To-day it has become the birthplace of souls. This feast 
may be a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb, for 
the Bridegroom is here, and in more than one soul the bride 
is making herself ready." 

It was indeed a joyous occasion. It would have been diffi- 
cult to tell who was happiest in that company: Jesus, who 
rejoiced to see that the Father was being glorified through 
his message ; or the souls who were looking for the first time 
into the Father's reconciled face ; or Matthew, whose heart's 
desire was being accomplished in the homage paid to his 
Master and in the salvation of his friends. Probably 
Matthew was as happy as anybody else that day. However, 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 31 

there were some people who were not particularly pleased. 
Certain Pharisees complained to his disciples, "Why eat- 
eth your Master with the publicans and sinners?" To 
them Jesus answered: "They that are whole have no need 
of a physician, but they that are sick. Do you find any 
fault with a physician because he goes wherever his profes- 
sional practice may call him? Would you not rather find 
fault with him if he refused to go to minister to the phys- 
ical needs of anybody here? I too have a professional inter- 
est in these people. I minister to sick souls as the physician 
ministers to sick bodies. I have the same right to associate 
with them which he has. The well should not complain that 
the physician visits the sick." 

Then he turned upon them with one of his favorite quo- 
tations from the Scripture. He said, "Go ye and learn what 
this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice: for I came 
not to call the righteous, but sinners." 14 Matthew heard, 
and his heart leaped within him as he knew his old enemies 
so well answered and the Master's mission to himself and 
his friends so clearly proclaimed and vindicated before all 
the people. 

Then some of the disciples of John the Baptist came and 
said in their turn: "What does all this feasting mean? It 
is not these people with whom he feasts to whom we object, 
but it is the feasting itself. Our master taught us to fast, 
and the Pharisees fast oft. It seems to us that if Matthew 
is about to begin a religious life, he would do well to begin 
with fasting rather than feasting. That would be much 
more in accordance with the spirit and the program of 
John." 

Now, Matthew in all probability never had been a disciple 
of John the Baptist and, even if he had been among the 
publicans who came to John asking to be baptized, 15 he had 
prepared this feast of celebration and farewell without any 

14 Matt. 9. 13. 
16 Luke 3. 12. 



32 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

thought of the Forerunner. However, he knew that Jesus 
had been baptized of John and that he thought very highly 
of that ascetic of the wilderness. Peter and Andrew and 
James and John and Philip and Bartholomew all had been 
disciples of John the Baptist before they became disciples 
of Jesus. Both they and Matthew listened with great eager- 
ness to hear what the Master would have to say. 

The answer of Jesus was a most memorable one. 
Matthew never forgot it. It seemed to him to sum up the 
whole relation between the new gospel and the old dispensa- 
tion. It influenced his conception of Christianity to the day 
of his death. It determined all unconsciously to himself the 
form which his written Gospel would take in the later days. 
He listened, and many things grew clear to him as he heard 
the Master say, "Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, 
as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will 
come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, 
and then will they fast. And no man putteth a piece of 
undressed cloth upon an old garment ; for that which should 
fill it up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent is made. 
Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins: else the 
skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins perish : but 
they put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and both are pre- 
served." 16 

While Jesus was speaking, Jairus came in, and told Jesus 
his daughter had just died; and Jesus rose to go with him to 
the stricken home. Thus the company broke up, and the 
feast ended. Matthew went with the Lord ; and he followed 
him henceforth as a disciple, and later as an apostle. He 
was present, of course, on many or most of the occasions 
deemed worthy of record in our Gospels; but aside from 
the apostolical lists his name never is found again on their 
pages. 

He belongs in the second group of the apostles. Peter, 
James, John, and Andrew form the first group, and are 

"Matt. 9. 15-17. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 33 

most prominent in the gospel history. Philip, Bartholomew, 
Matthew, and Thomas form the second group of four; and 
of the other three in this group we hear again, and of some 
of them on several occasions. Matthew alone has no other 
mention in our New Testament. He was a publican who 
became an apostle. At the time of his call he gave a feast 
in honor of his new Master and invited his old friends. 
That is all we are told about him in the Scripture, and it may 
seem like a small basis upon which to build any sure concep- 
tion of his character. Before making the attempt we notice 
what church tradition has to say of him. 

4. Traditions Concerning Him. (1) Clement of Alexan- 
dria wrote a manual of moral behavior for the early Chris- 
tians, and in the chapter "On Eating" he says : "Happiness is 
found in the practice of virtue. Accordingly, the apostle 
Matthew partook of seeds, and nuts, and vegetables, with- 
out flesh/' 17 Was this because Matthew remembered that 
the Master had said at his feast, "It is all right to feast now ; 
but when the bridegroom is taken away my disciples will 
fast"? Were his abstinence and his vegetarianism a con- 
stant memorial of his faithfulness to every suggestion of 
his Lord? 

(2) In another of his larger works Clement of Alex- 
andria has preserved one saying of the apostle Matthew. 
His language is as follows : "They say in the traditions that 
Matthew the apostle constantly said, that 'if the neighbor of 
an elect man sin, the elect man has sinned. For had he con- 
ducted himself as the Word prescribes, his neighbor also 
would have been filled with such reverence for the life he 
led as not to sin.' " 18 

There is a deal of truth in this saying. No Christian can 
shake off all responsibility for the sin of the community in 
which he lives. He dare not say: "It is no affair of mine. 
I have nothing to do with it." The chances are, as Matthew 

17 Paedag. II, 1. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. ii, p. 241. 

18 Strom. VII, 13. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. ii, p. 547. 



34 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

said, that if his life were just what it ought to be, it would 
convict his neighbor of sin and righteousness and judgment, 
and bring him to repentance and faith. When all Christians 
are ideal Christians it will not be long before the world will 
be saved. For all delay in that blessed consummation the 
Christian Church is, and always will be, most largely re- 
sponsible. 

On the other hand, things being as they are to-day, the 
holiest life will not be uniformly successful in evangelism. 
Jesus himself did not bring all to believe. He conducted 
himself as God's Word prescribed, and yet some of his 
neighbors continued to sin. He was without sin, neverthe- 
less. His ever-faithful testimony absolved him from all 
responsibility for their guilt. We are disposed to conclude, 
then, that this saying of Matthew is not literally true, while, 
like most paradoxes, it is suggestive of truth and most pro- 
vocative of thought. 

(3) Later tradition affirms that Matthew spent some fif- 
teen years in Judaea after the crucifixion and then was sent 
to Ethiopia as an apostolic evangelist. 19 Here we infer that 
he died a natural death. The Gospels tell us about 
Matthew's call and his farewell feast, and nothing more. 
Clement of Alexandria tells us one fact concerning him, and 
one of his sayings. All later tradition is uncertain and pos- 
sibly unreliable. 

This is all, therefore, that we know about Matthew, except 
(4) that all early church tradition unites in declaring that 
he was responsible for the compilation or the composition 
of our first Gospel. That alone has made Matthew im- 
mortal. As Dean Farrar has said : "Out of this life, so dis- 
credited in its youth, so unrecorded in its manhood, there 
flowed a most memorable service — the first Gospel . . . 
It is not the only instance in which one who seems to have 
lived much alone with God and his own soul has, like John 
Tauler or Thomas a Kempis, embalmed in one brief book 

19 Socrates, Hist. Eccles., i, 19. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 35 

the inmost fragrance of a blessed spirit, to last for a life 
beyond life." 20 

Now, upon the basis of the facts in hand, what conclu- 
sions may we safely draw concerning this man and his char- 
acter ? 

5. The Man and His Character. (1 ) He was a Jew, with 
the training of a Jew, and with the ineradicable conscious- 
ness of his racial prerogatives and relationships. He was 
as well acquainted with the Old Testament as the average 
Jew, and as conversant with all the Messianic hopes and 
promises. 

(2) He was a renegade Jew, having broken with his race 
in becoming a publican. There must have been something 
of bitterness in his spirit, as the inevitable result of such 
action. He must have soured somewhat in his disposition. 
It is not in human nature to bear the scorn of a community 
and the odium of continuous contempt and the burden of 
social ostracism with undisturbed equanimity of temper. 
One tends to react into bitterness and pessimism and gloom. 
We would expect Matthew to show an element of sternness 
in his dealings with his proud and haughty persecutors 
among the Jews. 

(3) On the other hand, Matthew the publican might be 
expected to be more friendly with the other publicans and 
the harlots and all the social outcasts, and even with the dogs 
of Gentiles, than the ordinary Jew ever came to be. He was 
more liberal than the most of his race. He was a man of 
broad sympathies, who realized that there were good peo- 
ple outside of the Jewish blood, and that every human heart 
had unsuspected resources of goodness in it which only 
needed the proper treatment to bring them to the surface 
and make them dominant in the life. Matthew had many 
friends among the lower classes, and he believed that they 
were all capable of salvation. 

(4) He must have been a man of strong and independent 

80 Messages of the Books, p. 31. 



36 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

nature, capable of standing alone if need be, ready to brave 
the worst that his own people might say or do against him 
when he had determined upon a course of action which he 
knew they would disapprove, a strong and silent man, per- 
sistent in the face of all remonstrance, faithful against all 
odds, firm as Gibraltar in all storms of wind or sea. 

(5) He was a man of means. He may have chosen to be a 
publican because that office was more remunerative than 
any other in that city. He had a home of his own ; and he 
was able to entertain a large number of people in his fare- 
well feast. His house must have been large and his hos- 
pitality must have been famous, to gather together so many 
publicans and sinners on short notice upon that occasion. 

(6) Matthew was withal a modest man. This is apparent 
in the following particulars, a. Luke tells us that Matthew 
"left all," 21 when he followed Jesus. This may mean that he 
sacrificed his property as well as his position when he became 
a disciple, and we notice that Matthew himself in the account 
of his call omits all mention of it. His modesty forbade his 
recording it. He says only, "He arose and followed him." 22 

b. It is Luke again who tells us that the feast which fol- 
lowed was in Matthew's own home. Matthew tells us what 
happened there, but modestly omits all mention of his own 
generosity and hospitality in connection with it. If Paul 
Veronese in his great painting of "The Banquet" in the 
Academy at Venice is at all justified in the magnificence 
of the surroundings and the munificence of the repast 
which he has pictured there, there must have been a great 
sacrifice of material comfort and wealth when Matthew left 
all to follow the Lord. He possibly sold all that he had and 
gave it to the poor. He may have used all his money in 
hand in the furnishing of this farewell feast. He did leave 
all his prospects of any advancement in his chosen field of 
work. Whatever of wealth or position he had, he left it all 

21 Luke 5. 28. 
32 Matt. 9. 9- 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 37 

to follow Jesus; but he says nothing about it. The other 
evangelists give us these facts. 

c. In the list of the apostles Matthew modestly puts the 
name of Thomas before his own. 23 In the other Synoptic 
lists this order is reversed and Matthew's name precedes 
that of Thomas. 24 

d. He is the only one to write himself down in the apostolic 
list as Matthew the publican. It was not a title of which to 
be proud. In the other lists of the apostles, Matthew's 
name is given and the disgraceful profession to which he 
had once belonged is not mentioned. 25 Matthew in all meek- 
ness and honesty affixes that opprobrious title to his name. 26 
He makes no apology for it. He has no desire to rescue it 
from the odium resting upon it. 

e. He does not record the parable of the Pharisee and the 
publican, in which the Lord seemed to suggest that a repent- 
ant publican was to be justified rather than his self-right- 
eous critic in all the odor of ecclesiastical sanctity. It is just 
possible that this parable may represent a personal expe- 
rience in the life of Matthew. That suggestion has been 
made, and if it be true it is all the more noteworthy that 
Matthew does not record it, while Luke does. 

f. He does not tell the story of Zacchaeus the publican with 
whom the Lord preferred to lodge rather than to go any- 
where else in Jericho. We might have expected Matthew 
to notice those incidents in the Gospel history where pub- 
licans were singled out for preference or special favor. His 
modesty alone would prevent him from recording such 
things. However, his modesty would not prevent him from 
recording the Lord's great goodness in ordering his compan- 
ionship and his salvation to such as he. His modesty would 
not preclude his testimony to the great grace of God which 



28 Matt. 10. 3. 

24 Mark 3. 18; Luke 6. 15. 

"Mark 3. 16-19; Luke 6. 14-16, and Acts 1. 13. 

26 Matt TH -2 



38 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

had reached even him and had transformed even him and 
had made of him a miracle of mercy and a guarantee of 
God's grace offered freely to all of his class. He says, "The 
Lord made me an apostle; and it was all of his matchless 
grace, for I was a publican !" and Matthew alone among the 
evangelists records that the Lord joined the publicans and 
harlots together in the statement that they believed John 
the Baptist and went into the Kingdom before the chief 
priests and the elders of the people. 27 

g. Possibly we may find another proof of Matthew's 
modesty and humility, in honor preferring another to him- 
self, in the fact that he permitted Judas to become the treas- 
urer of the apostolic company when he doubtless was much 
better qualified for that position than Judas or any one else. 

This, then, is the character of the man who wrote the 
first Gospel. He was a renegade Jew, an associate with 
other bad characters, publicans and harlots, before his con- 
version, a man of means and disposed to be generous with 
them, a strong and independent nature, stern in his notions 
of retribution for all disobedience to law, and yet a lover 
of his fellow men, who after his conversion was a loyal 
Israelite and a faithful Christian, a modest, silent follower 
of the meek and lowly One whom he believed to be the 
Messiah of the Jews and the Saviour of the race. If 
Matthew ever addressed a single word to the Master, we 
have no record of it in our Scriptures; but Matthew has 
recorded more of the words of Jesus to the listening multi- 
tudes of Galilee than any other evangelist. His calling and 
his character had given him a special fitness for that work. 
We note this next. 

6. His Fitness for His Work. ( I ) As a publican he would 
be used to writing and the keeping of accounts. 

(2) He would be accustomed to the orderly arrangement 
of his thought and his material. 



" Matt 21. 31, 32. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 39 

(3) He would be interested in numbers and careful in 
the details of his work. 

(4) He was acquainted with both the Greek and the 
Hebrew, as well as the Aramaic. 

(5) His familiarity with pen and paper would enable him 
to take down the longer discourses more easily than others. 

(6) He knew his Old Testament better than any other of 
the evangelists, if the number of original quotations from 
it is any criterion. He has eleven ; Mark, two ; Luke, three, 
and John, nine. 

(7) He belonged to the circle of the intimate friends of 
Jesus, and may have been a relative. 

(8) He does not seem to have been prominently engaged 
in other apostolic work, and may have been regarded from 
the very beginning as the fit secretary or amanuensis or 
record-keeper of the twelve. 

What sort of a record would such a man make? What 
kind of a Gospel would he write ? If we have read the man's 
character correctly we ought to find that the characteristics 
of the book correspond with the peculiar training and char- 
acteristics of the man. We turn from our study of the man 
to a study of his book to see if this be true. 

III. The Book and Some of Its Characteristics 

1. This is The Gospel for the Jews. 

It is written by a Jew and its appeal is primarily to his own 
countrymen. This appears in many major and minor pecu- 
liarities. 

(1) This Gospel alone begins with a genealogy, after the 
fashion of Hebrew histories. Luke has a genealogy, intro- 
duced later into his narrative. Matthew puts "the genera- 
tion of Jesus Christ" first of all. 

(2) In this genealogy Jesus is declared to be "the son of 
David, the son of Abraham," 2S and the descent of Jesus 



Matt. 1. 1. 



40 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

begins with Abraham, the father of the Jewish race. That 
would satisfy the Jews for whom primarily Matthew 
wrote. Luke in his genealogy, 29 carries the line back to 
Adam, for he is not interested so much in emphasizing the 
Jewish descent of Jesus as his brotherhood with the entire 
race. Matthew gives us the genealogy of the Messiah of the 
Jewish race; Luke gives us the genealogy of the Brother of 
the human race. 

(3) This Gospel gives more attention to the prophecies of 
the Old Testament than any other, and especially to some of 
the prophecies which would be of particular interest to the 
Jews; as, for example, 

"Out of thee [Bethlehem] shall come forth a governor, 
Who shall be shepherd of my people Israel." 30 

No other Gospel has these words. No one who was unac- 
quainted with the Hebrew tongue could understand such a 
statement as that found in Matthew: He "dwelt in a city 
called Nazareth ; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken 
by the prophets, that he should be called a Nazarene." 31 
This becomes intelligible only in the light of the Hebrew of 
Isaiah 11. 1. 

(4) This Gospel does not explain Jewish religious and 
civil customs nor give geographical and topographical de- 
tails, as the other Gospels do. It presupposes that its readers 
are resident in Palestine and will know all of these things. 

(5) In no other Gospel does the Lord give such unquali- 
fied indorsement to the Jewish law. Here only we read that 
he said, "Think not that I came to destroy the law or the 
prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfill." 32 Here 
only we hear the statement and the command, "The scribes 
and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat: all things therefore 

29 Luke 3. 3& 

"Micah 5. 2, quoted in Matt. 2. 6. 

31 Matt. 2. 23. 

32 Matt. 5. 17. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 41 

whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe." 33 In this 
Gospel alone do we find sin called avo\ua, lawlessness. 34 

At the same time, a clear line of distinction is drawn be- 
tween the divine law and the rabbinical additions and cor- 
rupt traditions of the scribes. Nowhere are the scribes and 
Pharisees so bitterly denounced for their innate disloyalty to 
the higher law and their insistence upon petty ceremonial 
observances as in the twenty-third chapter of this Gospel. 
The Gospel according to Matthew is a Gospel for the Jews, 
but it is a Gospel of the genuine Judaism as opposed to the 
travesty of the faith and the degenerate type of the reli- 
gion represented by the Pharisees and the Sadducees and 
the scribes and the priests of that day. They thought they 
were fulfilling the law, but they were destroying it by mak- 
ing it an unendurable burden. Jesus came to fulfill the law 
by filling it full of freedom and mercy and grace. He de- 
stroyed it too, by replacing it with something higher and 
better, its legitimate consummation. They would have de- 
stroyed it not by filling it full but by draining it dry. That 
was the difference between Jesus and the Jewish officials of 
his day. Matthew makes this difference very clear. ' 

(6) Matthew also makes it perfectly clear that the mes- 
sage of salvation came to the Jews first; and only after their 
rejection was it preached to the Samaritans and the Gentiles. 
He is careful to safeguard the prerogatives of the Jews at 
this point. In this Gospel only do we find Jesus command- 
ing the twelve on their first mission, "Go not into any way 
of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans : 
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 35 

In this Gospel alone do we read that Jesus said to the 
Syrophoenician woman concerning his own mission, "I was 
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 36 



"Matt. 23. 2, 3. 

"Matt. 7. 23; 13. 41 ; 23. 28; 24. 12. 

86 Matt 10. 5, 6. 

86 Matt 15. 24. 



42 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

(7) In this Gospel alone do we find the record of the 
quaking earth and the rending rocks and the opened tombs 
and the resurrected saints seen in Jerusalem at the time of 
the crucifixion. 37 These things were of most interest and 
importance to the Jews. 

(8) In this Gospel alone do we find that peculiarly Jewish 
promise made to the twelve, "Verily I say unto you, that ye 
which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son 
of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit 
upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." 38 

(9) This is the Gospel of the great commission. It begins 
with the statement that Jesus was the son of Abraham ; and 
to Abraham God had promised that in his seed all the nations 
of the earth should be blessed. The Gospel closes with the 
suggestion that the time has come for the fulfillment of that 
promise through Jesus and the disciples of Jesus. The bless- 
ing has been won for the race, and Jesus says to the eleven, 
"Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations." 39 

(10) In this Gospel alone is Jerusalem called the holy 
city, and the city of the great King. 40 

(11) In this Gospel alone is the temple declared to be the 
dwelling place of God, and the holy place, and the temple of 
God. 41 

(12) Delitzsch traces in this Gospel written for the Jews 
a resemblance to the Pentateuch. Thus he arranges it in 
five parts. The first chapter of Matthew is "the book of 
the generation of Jesus Christ," and corresponds to Genesis. 
The second chapter begins with the slaughter of infants at 
Bethlehem, and the escape of Jesus, as Exodus began with 
the slaughter of infants in Egypt and the escape of Moses. 
The Sermon on the Mount in Galilee is, of course, the 



87 Matt. 27. 51-53 

88 Matt. 19. 28. 

89 Matt. 28. 19 



40 Matt. 4- 5 I 5- 35. 

" Matt. 23. 21 ; 24. 15 ; 21. 12 ; 26. 61. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 43 

counterpart to the law given from Mount Sinai. The eighth 
chapter opens with the cleansing of a leper. We have then 
reached what answers to the book of Leviticus. When we 
come to the tenth chapter we read of the organization pro- 
vided for the church under the twelve apostles, correspond- 
ing to the narrative in Numbers of the ordering of the twelve 
tribes of Israel under their princes. At the nineteenth 
chapter of the Gospel, where the ministry in Judaea begins — 
a ministry of reproof, exhortation, and prophecy — we enter 
on the parallel to the book of Deuteronomy. The whole 
ends with the death and implied (not affirmed) ascension 
of Jesus, and with directions for the future guidance of the 
church, just as the Pentateuch ends with the death and im- 
plied ascension of Moses, and with directions for the future 
guidance of Israel. 42 It is an ingenious parallel, and, 
whatever element of fancy there may be about it, it yet 
remains clear that no such parallel could be made with the 
contents of any other of our Gospels. 

We now have given twelve indications of the fact that 
the first Gospel was intended primarily for the Jews. 
Matthew was a Jew, and he had the cause of the Jew at 
heart, and he wrote a Gospel which in comparison with, and 
by contrast to, the others deserves to be called a Gospel for 
the Jews. Now, the Jews were the people of a Book, and 
their sacred Book was filled with prophecies in the realization 
of which they expected to enter upon their Golden Age. All 
their hopes centered in the Messiah. His coming would 
bring all other good things in its train. Matthew believed 
that Jesus was the expected Messiah and in writing out that 
good news for the Jews he must show them that in Jesus the 
Messianic prophecies were fulfilled. A Gospel for the 
Jews must be a Gospel of Fulfillment to serve its end. The 
first Gospel is emphatically worthy of that name. 

2. This is The Gospel of Fulfillment. 

It is as Godet has said: "The formula, 'that it might be 

43 Fraser, Synoptical Lectures, vol. ii, pp. 47, 48. 



44 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

fulfilled/ is like a refrain repeated in every page of the book. 
In the two first chapters we find five detached incidents of 
the childhood of Jesus, connected with five prophetic say- 
ings. At the opening of the ministry, in chapter four, is 
a prophecy of Isaiah which forms as it were its general text 
or motto, and announces that Galilee is to be the theater of 
the Messianic work. In chapter eight, as the central point 
of a collection of miraculous incidents, we have a saying of 
the same prophet, revealing the moral significance of all 
these wonders: 'Himself took our infirmities and bare our 
sicknesses.' The series of teachings given in chapter twelve 
is also connected with a prophetic saying: 'Behold my serv- 
ant whom I have chosen ... he shall not strive nor cry 
... a bruised reed shall he not break.' And so on, up to 
the account of the Passion, of which every feature is in some 
way designated as the fulfillment of a prophecy." 43 

The phrases, Iva (or onug) ttXtjqoB^ to prfiiv^ and rore 
eTrkr)pG)d7) to prjdev and others concerning the fulfillment of 
Scripture occur thirteen times in the Gospel according 
to Matthew. 44 They never are found in the Gospel accord- 
ing to Mark or the Gospel according to Luke. They oc- 
cur six times in the Gospel according to John. Judging 
by the evidence of these phrases alone, we could conclude 
that of the four evangelists the two who were apostles were 
much more interested in the fulfillment of the Old Testa- 
ment Messianic prophecies than the other two, and that 
Matthew laid twice as much stress as John upon this ful- 
fillment. The first Gospel is almost a manual of Messianic 
prophecy. Matthew himself evidently is thoroughly familiar 
with the Old Testament, and we readily can believe that his 
own faith in the Messiahship of Jesus was greatly strength- 
ened by the study of the Jewish Scriptures. He studied the 
life of Jesus and he studied the prophetic books, and again 

"New Testament Studies, p. u. 

44 1. 22; 2. 15, 17, 23; 4. 14; 8. 17; 12. 17; 13. 14; 13. 35; 21. 4; 
26. 54, 56; 27. 9. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 45 

and again he was struck with the strange correspondence 
between these two. When he wrote his book he used the 
prophecies to illustrate and illuminate the life. 

Professor Bruce has pointed out the contrast between the 
first and the second Gospels at this point. He says : "Mark's 
dry statement, 'They went into Capernaum,' 1. 21, referring 
to Jesus and his followers proceeding northward from the 
scene of the baptism, in Matthew's hands assumes the char- 
acter of the solemn announcement of an epoch-making event, 
whereby an ancient oracle concerning the appearing of a 
great light in Galilee of the Gentiles received its fulfillment, 
4. 12-17. Again, Mark's matter-of-fact report of the ex- 
tensive healing function in Capernaum on the Sabbath even- 
ing is in Matthew adorned with a beautiful citation from 
Isaiah's famous oracle concerning the suffering servant of 
Jehovah, 8. 17. Once more, to Mark's simple statement that 
Jesus withdrew himself to the sea after the collision with 
the Pharisees, occasioned by the healing on a Sabbath of 
the man with a withered hand, the first evangelist attaches a 
fine prophetic picture, as if to show readers the true Jesus 
as opposed to the Jesus of Pharisaic imagination, 12. i5 L 2i. 
From these instances we see his method. He is not inventing 
history, but enriching history with prophetic emblazon- 
ments for apologetic purposes, or for increase of edifica- 
tion." 4 5 

Matthew's quotations from the Old Testament are not 
always direct Messianic prophecies. He has these, as in 
2. 6; 7. 17; 12. 17; 26. 24. Sometimes, however, his quo- 
tations are merely literary appropriations of analogies in the 
Old Testament or fulfillments in type, as in 2. 15; 2. 17; 4. 
14. In some cases the statements of the Old Testament are 
altered, to make them fit into the situation in the life of 
Jesus, as in 3. 3, where Matthew has, "The voice of one cry- 
ing in the wilderness," instead of Isaiah's, "The voice of one 
that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of the 

46 Expositor's Greek Testament, vol. i, pp. 40, 41. 



46 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Lord," Isa. 40. 3 ; and as in 27. 9, where we have a very far- 
fetched analogy to Zech. 11. 12, 13. 

Matthew was so convinced that the Old Testament was 
filled with foreshadowings of Jesus that he appropriated 
without hesitation not only direct references to the coming 
Messiah but anything and everything which could be brought 
into even remote connection with him. Therefore, not all 
of Matthew's quotations have evidential value. Some are 
merely literary embellishments, analogies of type, or remote 
analogies of appropriate and appropriated language; but all 
serve to show that to Matthew's mind the Old Testament 
was of chief interest as it bore witness to Jesus, and that 
it was clear to him that the Gospel of Jesus was a Gospel 
of Fulfillment throughout. He saw fulfillment of historical 
and ritual and legal types in Jesus, which the Jews had failed 
to see. This book was written partly to open their eyes at 
this point. In the New Testament it serves the same pur- 
pose among the Gospels that the Epistle to the Hebrews 
serves among the Epistles. Both endeavor to show that the 
Old Testament history and prophecy and legal requirements 
and ritual observances have found their fulfillment in Jesus. 

It is but natural, therefore, that we should find more of 
the Old Testament in the Gospel according to Matthew than 
in any of the others. It has more quotations from the Old 
Testament in proportion to its length than any New Testa- 
ment writing, except the Epistle to the Romans. Nine times 
we find direct quotations introduced by the phrase, "It is 
written," and six times the introductory -phrase is "It has 
been said by them of old time." 46 Six times Jesus challenges 
his opponents with the ironical question, "Have you never 
read" this or that passage of the Old Testament which bears 
upon this question or throws its light upon this situation? 
In this way he refers these professed masters in Bible lore 
to Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, First Samuel, the book of 



2. 5 ; 4. 4, 6, 7, 10; n. 10; 21. 13 ; 26. 24, 31 ; 5. 21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43- 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 47 

Psalms, and Isaiah. 47 Besides these which we have men- 
tioned there are six other direct quotations from the Old 
Testament in Matthew, and between forty and fifty allusions 
to Old Testament phraseology. Altogether nineteen Old 
Testament books, the five books of the Law, three historical, 
two poetical, and nine prophetical books are used by 
Matthew in the composition of his Gospel. Fifteen Old 
Testament characters are mentioned by name, besides those 
whose names occur in the genealogy. The Gospel according 
to Matthew is a New Testament book, but it is built upon 
Old Testament foundations throughout. 

When John the Baptist thought that Jesus ought not to 
come to him for baptism, Jesus answered, "Suffer it now: 
for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." 4S In 
the life of Jesus there was a fulfillment of all prophecy, and 
in the life of Jesus there was a fulfillment of all righteous- 
ness. The Gospel of Fulfillment is the Gospel of Right- 
eousness as well. 

3. This is The Gospel of Righteousness. 

The words diicaio$ } "righteous," and dutaioovvri, "righteous- 
ness," are not absolutely peculiar to Matthew's use, but they 
occur more times in the first Gospel than in the other three 
combined, and so become characteristic of it. 

( 1 ) In Matthew alone we are told that Joseph the husband 
of Mary was a righteous man. 49 (2) In Matthew alone we 
read, "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after right- 
eousness." 50 In Luke we read, "Blessed are ye that hunger 
now: for ye shall be filled." 51 (3) In Matthew alone we 
read, "Blessed are they that have been persecuted for right- 
eousness' sake." 52 Luke omits this characteristic phrase of 



47 12. 3, 5; 19. 4; 21. 16, 42; 22. 31. 

48 Matt. 3. 15. 

49 Matt. 1. 19. 
■ Matt 5. 6. 
11 Luke 6. 21. 
" Matt 5. 10. 



48 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Matthew and says instead, "Blessed are ye, when men shall 
hate you, and . . . separate you . . . , and reproach 
you . . . for the Son of man's sake." 53 

(4) In Matthew alone we read, "For I say unto you, that 
except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of 
the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." 54 (5) In Matthew alone we read, 
The Father "sendeth rain on the just and the unjust [right- 
eous and the unrighteous]." 55 (6) In Matthew alone we 
read, "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before 
men, to be seen of them." 56 

That was the indictment of Jesus against the Phari- 
sees, that their righteousness was external and superficial, 
consisting too largely and too exclusively of external acts, 
and giving too little attention to the inner motives and the 
purity of the personal life. On the other hand, it was the 
indictment of the Pharisees against Jesus and his disciples 
that they neglected to purify their hands before meals, 57 
and to observe the regular fasts, 58 and they deliberately 
broke the rules for the observance of the Sabbath, 59 and 
they habitually consorted with the unsavory and the un- 
devout classes of society. 60 How could people do these 
things and still be righteous? That is the tragedy of this 
Gospel, as of so much of church history. It is the righteous 
arrayed against the righteous. In the name of right- 
eousness the shining examples of righteousness among the 
people hunt the Righteous One to death. 

(7) In Matthew alone we read, "Seek ye first his kingdom, 
and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added 
unto you." 61 Luke records the command, but omits 
Matthew's characteristic word, "Seek ye his kingdom, and 

63 Luke 6. 22. M Matt. 9. 14. 

54 Matt. 5. 20. n Matt. 12. 2. 

56 Matt. 5. 45. ""Matt. 9. 11. 

66 Matt. 6. 1. "Matt. 6. 33- 

67 Matt. 15. 2. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 49 

these things shall be added unto you." 62 (8) In Matthew 
alone we read, "He that receiveth a righteous man in the 
name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's re- 
ward." 63 (9) In Matthew alone we read, "Many prophets 
and righteous men desired to see the things which ye see, 
and saw them not." 64 

(10) Matthew alone has the promise, "Then shall the 
righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
Father." 65 (11) Matthew alone has the Master's statement, 
"The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from 
among the righteous." 66 (12) Matthew alone records that 
saying of Jesus to the chief priests and elders, "John came 
unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him 
not." 67 

(13) Matthew alone has that scathing rebuke of Jesus to 
the scribes and the Pharisees, and he rings the changes on 
the word "righteous" through all the closing sentences. 
"Ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men," 68 "Ye 
. . . garnish the tombs of the righteous," 69 "Upon you 
may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from 
the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zacha- 
riah." 70 Luke has this closing statement with the two oc- 
currences of the word "righteous" left out. 71 (14) In 
Matthew alone we have that final parable of judgment, and 
in it we read, "Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, 
Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee?" 72 and 
then at last, "The righteous [shall go] into eternal life," 73 
(15) In Matthew alone we read that Judas said, "I have 
sinned in that I betrayed innocent [righteous] blood." 74 



82 Luke 12. 31. w Matt. 23. 29. 

"Matt. 10. 41. 70 Matt. 23. 35. 

"Matt. 13. 17. 71 Luke 11. 51. 

65 Matt. 13. 43- 72 Matt. 25. 37. 

88 Matt. 13. 49. 7S Matt. 25. 46. 

"Matt 21. 32. 7 * Matt. 27. 4. 

68 Matt. 23. 28. 



50 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

(16) Matthew alone records that Pilate's wife sent word 
to him, "Have thou nothing to do with that righteous 
man," 75 and that Pilate washed his hands before the multi- 
tude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous 
man." ™ 

From the beginning to the end of this Gospel Jesus is the 
Righteous One, the One fulfilling all righteousness, and his 
disciples are called unto righteousness. The whole book, 
therefore, becomes an exposition of the nature and claims of 
righteousness, as set forth in the life and the teaching of 
Jesus and his followers. It is characteristic of Matthew's 
presentation that he makes the gospel of Jesus a Gospel of 
Righteousness throughout. Jesus said, "Seek ye first his 
kingdom, and his righteousness." 77 The righteousness he 
demanded was the righteousness of the Kingdom. The Gos- 
pel of Righteousness was the Gospel of the Kingdom as well. 

4. This Gospel is The Gospel of the Kingdom. 

Matthew calls it "the kingdom of the heavens." The 
other evangelists have the phrase, "the kingdom of God," 78 
but "the kingdom of the heavens" is found in Matthew alone. 
It occurs in the first Gospel thirty-three times, and nowhere 
else in the New Testament. Both by its uniqueness and its 
frequency of use it becomes characteristic of this Gospel 
throughout. The plural, ovpavoi, heavens, is a Hebraism: 
and we are not surprised to find it in a Gospel written by a 
Hebrew for the Hebrews. John never has this plural. Luke 
has it only four times, and never combined with "the king- 
dom." Matthew has it even when speaking of the dwelling 
place of God. 79 

(1) In this Gospel alone the message of John the Baptist 
is given, "Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at 

"Matt. 27. 19. 

76 Matt. 27. 24. 

77 Matt. 6. 33- 

"Found also in Matt. 12. 28; 19. 24; 21. 31, 43. 
79 Matt 6. 1, 9. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 51 

hand." 80 In the preaching of John as recorded in Mark 
and Luke there is nothing about a kingdom. They say that 
John preached "the baptism of repentance unto remission of 
sins." 81 

(2) According to Matthew the text of the first sermons 
of Jesus was, "Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is 
at hand," 82 and he began his first sermon recorded here, 
"Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of 
heaven." 83 (3) The further record is that he went 
everywhere preaching "the gospel of the kingdom." 84 
Jesus has no other name for it. Only once in this book does 
he speak of "the gospel," without calling it the gospel of 
the kingdom. 85 It is true, therefore, in a sense that Jesus 
did not preach the gospel of salvation ; "He came that there 
might be a gospel of salvation to preach. He is the gospel 
of salvation ; he preached the gospel of the Kingdom." 86 
In this Gospel only is the preaching of Jesus called "the 
word of the kingdom," 87 What the other books of the New 
Testament repeatedly call "the gospel," Matthew with but 
one exception calls "the gospel of the kingdom." 88 

(4) The characteristic difference between the presentation 
of this gospel in Matthew and in the other evangelists can 
be seen in a comparison of Matt. 18. 1-4 with Luke 9. 46-48. 
In Matthew we read that the disciples asked, "Who then is 
greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Jesus set a child in 
the midst of them and said, "Except ye turn, and become 
as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the king- 



80 Matt. 3. 2. 

81 Mark 1. 4. Luke 3. 3. 

82 Matt. 4. 17. 
"» Matt. 5. 3. 



~ Matt. 5. 3. 

84 Matt. 4. 23 ; 5. 3, 10, 19, 20. 

85 Matt. 26. 13. 
""' The Teachir 

Matt. 13. 19. 

'Matt. 9. 35; 24. 14. The exception, already noted, is in 
Matt. 26. 13. 



a.Tj.oi.u. tf. *. , j. j, xw, ly, *w. 

85 Matt. 26. 13. 

" The Teachings of the Books, p. 29. 

"Matt. 13. 10. 



52 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

dom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself 
as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of 
heaven." Three times in the four verses the phrase, "the 
kingdom of heaven" appears. When we turn to Luke we 
find the same story with Matthew's thrice repeated phrase 
omitted. 

(5) What is true of all of the preaching of Jesus as pre- 
sented in Matthew is particularly true of his parables. The 
first Gospel has fifteen of our Lord's parables, and twelve 
of them begin with the words, "The kingdom of heaven 
is like unto — ." See how the phrase recurs in the parable 
chapter, the thirteenth. "Unto you it is given to know the 
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." "The kingdom of 
heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his 
field." "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mus- 
tard seed." "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven." 
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in 
the field." "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that 
is a merchant seeking goodly pearls." "The kingdom of 
heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and 
gathered of every kind." "Every scribe who hath been 
made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man 
that is a householder." Eight times in the single chapter 
the changes are rung on this phrase, "the kingdom of 
heaven," 89 and in the parallels in the other Gospels the 
phrase is not found. 

Again we read, "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto 
a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son." 90 
In Luke we find the same parable, but nothing is said about 
a kingdom or a king. Luke has it, "A certain man made a 
great supper." Luke always is emphasizing the real hu- 
manity of Jesus and the broad, human aspects of his gospel. 
In accordance with this point of view, it is "a man" rather 
than "a king" who figures in his parables; "a certain man 

89 Matt. 13. 11, 24, 31, 33, 44, 45, 47, 52. 
80 Matt. 2.2. 2. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 53 

made a great supper," "a certain man was going down 
from Jerusalem to Jericho," "a certain man had two sons. ,r91 
In Matthew, on the contrary, we have the kingdom and the 
king. "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten 
virgins." "Then shall the King say unto them on his right 
hand, Come . . . , and to those on the left hand, De- 
part." 92 This is the Gospel of the Kingdom because it is the 
Gospel of the King. 

5. This is The Gospel of Jesus the King. 

Matthew had been an official. He had due respect for the 
authority of the sovereign. He writes of Jesus as the great 
King. 

(1) The genealogy with which he begins is that of the 
royal line, of the kings and the heirs of kings. Jesus is 
shown to be the son of David, the legitimate heir of the 
kingdom. The first division of that genealogy shows that 
David was the heir to the promises made to Abraham. 
The second division gives the line of the actual kings from 
David to the exile into Babylon. The third division shows 
that Jesus was in the line of the lawful heirs to the throne if 
the kingdom had survived and the rights of the royal family 
had been observed. Jesus was born in the royal succession. 
He had the blood of kings in his veins. Noblesse oblige. The 
obligation was upon him to bear himself kinglike from the 
beginning to the end. 

(2) The first title given to Jesus by man in this Gospel is 
found in the question of the Wise Men, "Where is he that 
is born King of the Jews?" 93 These Wise Men had come 
from far to find a King. When they found the babe they 
fell down before him and acknowledged his kingship with 
royal gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. This story 
is found in this Gospel alone. 

(3) It is in this Gospel alone that we read of Herod's 

91 Luke 14. 16; 10. 25; 15. 11. 

92 Matt 25. 1, 34, 41. 
88 Matt 2. 2. 



54 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

great alarm over the news of the birth of a rival king, for 
the scribes and the elders read him the prophecy that out 
of Bethlehem there should come a Governor who should rule 
over the people Israel. Herod himself was king. He would 
brook no rival. He slaughtered all the Bethlehem babes 
rather than run any risk in that matter. Matthew alone has 
told us how uneasy lay the head that wore the crown when 
this real Head of God's Israel was born. 

(4) When we think of Mary and Jesus we speak of the 
Mother and Child. Matthew never does. It is always "the 
child and his mother" with him. 94 The prince takes first 
rank in the family from the moment of his birth, in 
Matthew's narrative. 

(5) In Matthew when Jesus is accused of sabbath-break- 
ing he defends himself by an appeal to the experience and 
the example of David, the king. 95 The inference is plain. 
"David did this; why should not I? I am the son of David, 
the king." In John we find the same charge brought against 
Jesus, but here he answers not as the son of David by an 
appeal to the example of David, but as the Son of God by an 
appeal to the example of the Father. 96 

(6) In Matthew we read that Jesus cured a blind and 
dumb man, and the multitudes were amazed and said, "Can 
this be the son of David ?" 97 In Luke we read a parallel 
account, and Luke tells us that the multitudes marveled, but 
he omits their question, "Is not this the son of David?", 
which Matthew is careful to put into his record. 98 Eight 
times in this Gospel Jesus is called the son of David. 99 

(7) In Matthew Jesus conducts himself kinglike from the 
beginning to the end of his ministry, with a royalty all his 



"Matt. 2. 11, 13, 14, 20, 21. 

98 Matt. 12. 3. 

"John 5. 17. 

"Matt 12. 23. 

M Luke 1 1 : 14. 

M Matt. 1. 1; 9. 27; 12. 23; 15. 22; 20. 30; 20. 31; 21. 9; 21. 15. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 55 

own. Son of David, the King, he was himself every inch a 
king — King over the angry sea, 100 King over the demoniac 
host, 101 King in the midst of mobs, 102 King in the judgment 
hall, 103 King on the cross, "This is Jesus the King of 
the Jews." 104 Pilate asked the mocking question, "Art 
thou the King of the Jews?", 105 and the echo of that ques- 
tion voiced the truth. The soldiers' banter of royal robe and 
reed and crown, all unwittingly set forth the fact. 106 The 
chief priests and scribes and elders quoted with exquisite 
sarcasm, "He is the King of Israel," 107 and were wholly 
unconscious that all they, his enemies, were thus made to 
confess the kingship before which every knee should bow. 
Jesus was a king: and Matthew shows him kingly through- 
out. 

(8) Three times Matthew records a formal presenta- 
tion of Jesus as king to the people : at his birth, when the 
Wise Men roused the capital city with their inquiry," Where 
is this first-born King of the Jews?" ; at the beginning of his 
active ministry, when John the Baptist, as forerunner, her- 
alded the advent of a kingdom and a King; and at the close 
of that ministry, when Jesus rode into the royal city with 
something of the assumption of royal state, and the people 
cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David," and that word of 
prophecy was fulfilled which said, 

"Tell ye the daughter of Zion, 
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee." 108 

(9) Matthew alone says that Jesus spoke with author- 



100 Matt 8. 27. 

101 Matt 8. 29. 

1M Matt 21. 12, 13; 26. 52-55. 
1M Matt 26. 64. 
104 Matt. 27. 37. 
186 Matt 27. 11. 

106 Matt 27. 28, 29. 

107 Matt 27. 42. 

108 Matt 2. 2; 3. 2; 21. 5, 9. 



56 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

ity, and this statement is made at the close of the discourse 
in which he had laid down "the manifesto of a King," what 
Tholuck has called "the Magna Charta of the new king- 
dom." 10 *> 

The tone of authority had been ringing all through 
that Sermon on the Mount. Jesus had presumed to set 
aside the law of Moses more than once. "Ye have heard 
that it was said to them of old time: — but I say unto 
you" something else, something better, something of higher 
authority than that of the old law thus set aside. It was 
the habit of the rabbis and theological professors then as 
now seldom or never to present any dictum or lay down any 
law without backing it up with a respectable list of author- 
ities, great names which could be quoted in its behalf. Jesus 
never quoted authorities among the rabbis or the great 
masters of Israel. He spoke with the authority of the truth 
which needed no recommendation by men. He spake as 
never man spake before him. He spake with authority, 
and not as the scribes. Fifty-four times in this Gospel that 
"I say unto you" of Jesus occurs. 

In this Gospel only does Jesus claim authority to purify 
his kingdom, 110 and it is in the twenty-third chapter of this 
Gospel that we find the fullest presentation of the exercise 
of that authority by Jesus, that chapter in which he pro- 
nounces the woes upon the hypocrisy and the sin of the 
recognized religious authorities among the people. In this 
Gospel only do we find that closing statement made by 
Jesus, "All authority hath been given unto me in heaven 
and on earth." m In Matthew alone does Jesus give to 
Peter the keys of the kingdom. 112 In Matthew alone, but in 
this Gospel twice, Jesus speaks of sitting on the throne of 
his glory. "In the regeneration when the Son of man shall 



109 Matt. 7. 29. 

110 Matt. 13. 41. 

111 Matt. 28. 18. 
*"Matt 16. 19. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 57 

sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve 
thrones/' 113 and "When the Son of man shall come in his 
glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon 
the throne of his glory : and before him shall be gathered all 
the nations. . . . Then shall the King say unto them on 
his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the 
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
world." 114 In Matthew alone Jesus states that twelve 
legions of angels were at his command. 115 

(10) In the account of the crucifixion Matthew alone tells 
us of the darkness, of the rent rocks, and the opened graves; 
showing how heaven and earth and hades acknowledged 
their King. 116 

(11) Matthew describes the death of Jesus by a peculiar 
expression, "&<pfjKev to -nvevpa" "He dismissed his spirit." 117 
There is something regal, imperial, about the very phrase. 
According to Matthew, the last act of his life was a kingly 
act. Mark and Luke use the same word, "k^eirvevaev" "He 
breathed out his life, he expired." 118 John says, "He de- 
livered up his spirit," "Trapedunev rd Trvevfia." "9 Matthew 
alone makes even the death of Jesus the act of a sovereign, 
the deed of a king. 

A King who showed himself to be a worthy King in 
word and deed, and yet a King rejected by the very people 
over whom he had come to rule; that is the picture of the 
life of Jesus presented in the first Gospel. All the Gospel 
histories are tragic enough, but the Gospel according to 
Matthew is darkened with tragedy throughout. The Gospel 
of the Rejected King becomes a Gospel of Gloom. 



118 Matt. 19. 28. 
m Matt 25. 31, 34. 

116 Matt. 26. 53. 
u6 Matt. 27. 45, 51-53. 

117 Matt. 27. 50. 

u8 Mark 15. 37; Luke 23. 46. 
"'John 19. 30. 



58 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

6. This is The Gospel of Gloom. 

(i) Luke's narrative begins with songs; Matthew's nar- 
rative begins with sobs. Mary weeps, for her husband is 
about to put her away. Jerusalem is troubled. Herod is in a 
rage. The mothers of Bethlehem, like Rachel, are not to be 
comforted. The voice of their mourning was heard through 
the land. In Luke the boy is welcomed by the angels and 
the shepherds, by Simeon and Anna; and Mary and Elisa- 
beth sing for joy. The second chapter of Luke closes, 
"Jesus advanced in wisdom and in stature, and in favor 
with God and men." The second chapter of Matthew closes 
with "He should be called a Nazarene," and all through this 
Gospel Jesus is despised and rejected of men. 

(2) In this Gospel Jesus continually is fleeing from 
his enemies, "withdrawing" into some safer place. That 
word "withdraw," ava^wpew, becomes characteristic of 
Matthew's use. Mark has the word once, 120 and John 
once, 121 and Luke not at all; but in Matthew we find it ten 
times. 122 

(3) There is no word of human sympathy for the Cruci- 
fied One recorded in this Gospel, no penitent thief with faith 
triumphing in death, no company of women loudly wailing 
their grief. These things are found in Luke; but there is 
nothing of the sort in Matthew. In this narrative all who 
pass by revile the Crucified One. 123 

(4) The gloom deepens toward the close of the narrative. 
There is only one cry upon the cross in this Gospel, that 
awful cry, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, . . . My God, my 
God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" 124 There are seven 
words on the cross recorded in the various Gospels. Is it 
not a remarkable fact that of the seven only one is recorded 



"° Mark 3. 7. 

131 John 6. 15. 

m Matt. 2. 12, 13, 14, 22; 4. 12; 9. 24; 12. 15; 14. ij; 15. 21; 27. 5. 

■" Matt. 27. 39. 

"• Matt 27. 46. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 59 

in the Gospel according to Matthew and the Gospel accord- 
ing to Mark, and that that one should be this cry of agony 
and despair? Matthew has been writing the life history of 
the Messias of Israel, and the last words he records as 
spoken by this Messias are these words of disappointment, 
this confession of the consciousness that he was forsaken 
of God ! A Messias forsaken of God ! It is not his enemies 
who say it of him. He confesses it of himself. "My God, 
my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" and then his lips are 
closed until the curtain falls upon the Crucified One. Could 
anything be gloomier than that? If we had had no other 
Gospel than this first Gospel, we might have believed through 
all the centuries that our Christ died with this one cry of 
inexplicable perplexity upon his lips, with this sense of utter 
desolation upon his soul, with his spirit overwhelmed in 
the depths of nethermost darkness, with this feeling of 
absolute depression and disappointment and despair. If we 
had had no other Gospel than this Gospel of Gloom, we 
might have supposed forever that the last uttered words of 
our Lord were this cry from the utter midnight of the soul. 

(5) Matthew is a pessimist at times. He alone records 
the statement that there are few who find the narrow gate 
and straitened way which lead into life. 125 He alone pre- 
serves the Lord's saying which summarizes the truth of 
the marriage feast parable, "Many are called, but few 
chosen," 126 and he alone has those parables of judgment, 
the tares, the dragnet, the ten virgins, and the sheep and 
goats. He alone preserves the prophecy that at the end of 
the age the love of the majority shall wax cold. 127 He 
alone emphasizes the outer darkness into which the out- 
casts from the Kingdom fall. 128 

It is a great tragedy which Matthew records, and the 



"•Matt. 7. 14. 
m Matt 22. 14. 
^Matt 24. 12. 
128 Matt 20. 12, 13. 



60 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

tragic tone pervades his narrative. Again and again we 
come upon words which make the blood run cold. 

(6) That fearful twenty-third chapter is peculiar to this 
Gospel. Here only do we read that Jesus called the religious 
authorities "serpents and offspring of vipers." 129 The 
chapter climaxes with the statement, "Behold, your house 
is left unto you desolate," 13 ° and that statement is followed 
by the other statement of the fact which fulfilled it, "Jesus 
went out from the temple, and was going on his way," 131 
never to return to the temple precincts again during the in- 
carnation. That first statement of the twenty-fourth 
chapter never should have been separated from the clos- 
ing statement of the twenty-third chapter. The recorded 
action is the fulfillment of the recorded prophecy. 

(7) Before that storm had burst, there had been mutter- 
ings of thunder and lightning flashes of wrath which 
Matthew alone records. Here only we find that the man 
delivered from the unclean spirit for a time but repossessed 
by the same spirit and seven others more evil than himself, 
the last state of whom was far worse than the first, is a fit 
symbol of the fate of that evil generation to which Jesus 
spake. 132 Here only we read that Jesus said that the teach- 
ings of the Pharisees were many of them ungodly and should 
be as plants rooted up. 133 Here only Jesus tells the rulers 
of the Jews, "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from 
you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits 
thereof." 134 

(8) The final miracle of Matthew's account, the blasting of 
the fig tree, 135 was only the concrete representation of the 



129 Matt. 23. 33. 

130 Matt. 23. 38. 

131 Matt. 24. 1. 

132 Matt. 12. 43-45, 

133 Matt. 15. 13. 

134 Matt. 21. 43. 

135 Matt. 21. 19. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 61 

blasting given and promised to the faithless and fruitless 
people. 

(9) Matthew alone records that Jesus quoted the words 
of Isaiah's prophecy and applied them to his hearers, saying, 

"This people's heart is waxed gross, 
And their ears are dull of hearing, 
And their eyes they have closed ; 
Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, 
And hear with their ears, 
And understand with their heart, 
And should turn again, 
And I should heal them." 136 

(10) In Matthew alone do we find the climax of the 
gloomy picture of the national rejection of the King in their 
voluntary assumption of the consequences of their deed, 
"And all the people answered and said, His blood be on us, 
and on our children." 137 Guilty men never uttered more 
terrible words than those. 

The reason for this prevailing gloom in the first Gospel 
is that it is the Gospel of the Messias, who was the Messias 
of the nation, and who was rejected by the nation. This 
rejection was the greatest possible national calamity. The 
record of it could be only a record of gloom. There may 
have been individuals who welcomed the truth, but Matthew 
is not interested so much in them. He had been an official 
in the Roman empire. He had kept official records in his 
publican's booth. He makes of this Gospel an official record 
of the relations existing between the nation's Messias and 
the nation itself. The record becomes a gloomy record 
because it is devoted to this official aspect of the Messianic 
career. 

7. This is The Official Gospel. 

(1) The other Gospels are full of the accounts of per- 

156 Matt. 13. 15. 
137 Matt. 27. 25. 



62 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

sonal friendships and record many intimate personal and 
private relations. They tell us of that disciple whom Jesus 
loved, of the family at Bethany and their hospitable home 
and their devoted hearts, of the company of women who 
journeyed with Jesus and ministered to him and his dis- 
ciples, and of many private conversations with close friends 
and sympathetic souls. Matthew omits all of these things. 

(2) On the other hand, the official relation of John the 
Baptist to the Messianic movement is emphasized at every 
turn in the ministry of Jesus. 138 

(3) The denunciations of this Gospel are the denuncia- 
tions of officials, the religious authorities, the false prophets, 
the blind guides, the men who deceive and mislead the 
people ; and Jesus calls them dogs-in-the-manger and raven- 
ing wolves. 139 

(4) The parables of this Gospel picture the official rela- 
tions of the kingdom and the King. (5) The precepts of 
this Gospel have to do with the official relations of Messianic 
subjects to the Messianic Sovereign. 

(6) The final discourse of Jesus climaxes in the Judg- 
ment scene, in which all nations are gathered before the 
King, and he separates them one from another by official 
decree. 140 (7) The Gospel closes with the official commis- 
sion, "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the na- 
tions." 141 

The Jewish nation had rejected Jesus. Other nations 
would receive him. All nations at last are to be his disciples. 
The Gospel of Gloom as far as it records the rejection of 
the Jews becomes a Gospel of Hope as far as the Gentiles 
are concerned. 

8. This is The Gospel of Hope for the Gentiles. 

( 1 ) The genealogy in the first chapter suggests it. Four 

188 Matt. 4. 14; 11. 2; 14. 12; 17. 11-13. 
M Matt. 7-15; 23. 13-36; 24. 11. 
140 Matt. 25. 32-46. 
ta Matt. 28. 19. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 63 

women are mentioned in that genealogical list, namely, 
Tamar, Ruth, Rahab, and Bathsheba. It was not customary 
to introduce the names of any women into such a list. We 
wonder why Matthew does it, and we wonder the more 
when we see that these four names are the names of a pros- 
titute, a harlot, a woman of an alien and reprobate race, and 
an adulteress. Why does Matthew put any women into his 
genealogy? Why does he put these women in? He might 
have found the names of good and noble women, like Sarah 
and Rachel and Rebecca in the Jewish history. Why does he 
choose these four for mention out of the whole possible list? 

It has been suggested in answer to these questions that the 
Jews had been whispering slanders against the Virgin Mary, 
and that Matthew in militant mood reminds them by the in- 
troduction of these names into his genealogy that people in 
glass houses should not throw stones. Their own Royal 
House had several blots upon its 'scutcheon, and such 
charges as they had been making came with very poor grace 
from them. The first heir to David's throne was the off- 
spring of an unlawful marriage. Matthew does not name 
Solomon's mother, Bathsheba: but calls her "the wife of 
Uriah." 

This may be true ; but we prefer to believe that Matthew 
puts these women into the list because each of them, like 
Matthew himself, was an outcast, either with a clouded 
reputation or under the social ban, and yet each of them 
had been admitted to superlative privilege in the King- 
dom. If these were acknowledged members of the Mes- 
sianic family, there surely would be hope for any one to 
gain admission there. At any rate, two of these women 
were Gentiles, foreigners from hated and hostile tribes ; and 
if two Gentiles had been among the ancestresses of the Lord, 
all Gentiles might feel that they had a share in the redemp- 
tion he brought. 

Rahab was a Gentile, and worse. She was a heathen and 
a harlot as well. Ruth had a better and an unblemished 



64 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

personal reputation, but she was a Moabitess, and what did 
the ancient law say about the Moabites? "An Ammonite or 
Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah; even 
to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter 
into the assembly of Jehovah forever. . . . Thou shalt not 
seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for- 
ever." 142 Yet these two women, one very guilty and one 
very good, but both of them heathen and under the ban of 
the sacred law, had come into the line of the ancestry of 
Jesus. He had heathen blood in his veins, and worse than 
heathen blood. Before these two women had come into the 
line a prostitute had become the mother of one of the fore- 
fathers of Jesus, and after these two women had come into 
the line an adulteress had given birth to another of his 
fathers according to the flesh. 

We are glad that Matthew has chosen to record the names 
of these women in the genealogy. There they stand to prove 
that Jesus was not free from "taints of blood" in his human 
ancestry, and that whatever perfection of human character 
he attained was reached not by the aid of perfect purity 
of heredity, but in despite of a heavy handicap of sensuality 
and sin handed down to him through human weakness and 
moral failure and all the black catalogue of crime. He had 
no advantage of us in his humanity. It may be that some 
of us have advantage of him. Anyway, no matter what 
any man's heredity may be, he need not lose hope of his 
salvation and of his possible purity and perfection of 
Christian character as long as this first page stands here in 
the first Gospel. Sin, sorrow, shame are all chronicled here 
in the beginning of Matthew's record ; and yet the genealogy 
ends with Jesus. It might symbolize the history of the race: 
sin, sorrow, shame all along the line, but salvation in the end. 

(2) Matthew alone tells the story of the Eastern Magi. 
The first to herald the coming of the King and to acknowl- 
edge his claims to homage and royal gifts were these for- 

142 Deut. 23. 3, 6. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 65 

eigners from a far land. Gentiles were the first to proclaim 
him who was come to be King of the Jews. 143 

(3) Matthew alone records how John the Baptist inveighs 
against all Jewish feeling of security in racial prerogatives 
and how he assures his hearers that God can raise up chil- 
dren unto Abraham from the very stones of the desert. 144 
Abraham's race henceforth would not be the Jewish race 
alone, but it would be recruited from the waste places and 
from the waste products of the earth. Gentiles would be 
raised up of God to represent the true faith of Father 
Abraham. 

(4) Matthew continually shows that where the Jews had 
failed to recognize the Messiah and honor the King, the 
Gentiles had done better than they. In the very beginning 
the babe was driven out of Palestine by the Jews, but found 
a refuge among the Egyptians. 145 He sojourned in the land 
of bondage for a time, even as his race had done in the days 
between Joseph and Moses. He came out from the land of 
darkness and of bondage into the Promised Land, even as 
so many of the sons of God have done in their spiritual 
experience. In the days of his active ministry when the 
Jews were unbelievers Jesus said to a Canaanitish woman, 
a Gentile, "Great is thy faith!", 146 and upon another occa- 
sion he said to another Gentile, a Roman centurion, "I have 
not found so great faith ... in Israel." 147 When the 
Jews clamored for the death of Jesus, it was Pilate's wife, 
a Gentile, who sent word, "Have nothing to do with that 
righteous man." 148 The Jews reviled the Crucified One, but 
the Roman guards said, "Truly this was the Son of God." 149 

(5) Matthew is not so blinded by his Jewish prejudices 
that he is unwilling to recognize the facts, and he is the more 
ready to give the Gentiles their due credit because of his 



143 Matt. 2. 1-12. 14T Matt. 8. 10. 

144 Matt. 3. 9. 148 Matt 27. 19. 
146 Matt. 2. 14, 15. 149 Matt. 27. 54. 
146 Matt 15. 28. 



66 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

memory of some things which the Master had said. He 
records those sayings of Jesus which point to an impartial 
and unprejudiced preference of the Gentiles with the dis- 
ciple's fidelity to the spirit and teaching of the Lord. 

He tells us how Jesus declared that the centurion's faith 
was only an earnest of the faith which multitudes of the 
Gentiles would exercise in the coming days : "I say unto you, 
that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall 
sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the king- 
dom of heaven: but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast 
forth into the outer darkness." 150 The Gentiles will flock 
in ; the Jews will be cast out. 

Matthew has recorded that Jesus declared that Tyre and 
Sidon would have repented if they had had the opportunities 
of Chorazin and Bethsaida ; 151 and that it would be more 
tolerable for those Gentile cities than for the Jewish cities 
in the Day of Judgment. Unrepentant Sodom would find 
more tolerable judgment than unrepentant Capernaum. 152 

Matthew has recorded the parable of the vineyard, clos- 
ing with the words, "The Kingdom of God shall be taken 
away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth 
the fruits thereof." 153 The Jews had rejected the King's 
Son, and the kingdom would be taken away from them. 

In the parable of the king's marriage feast for his son, 
there is the suggestion of the same grim truth; for, when 
those first bidden had refused to come, the king sent his 
servants "unto the partings of the highways" to find 
guests. 154 The first missionaries followed Paul along the 
highways of the nations with their invitation to all the 
Gentile peoples to come and partake of the gospel feast. 

Their warrant for so doing was found in the great com- 

160 Matt. 8. ii, 12. 

151 Matt ii. 21. 

162 Matt ii. 23, 24. 

153 Matt. 21. 43. 

154 Matt 22. 9. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 67 

mission which Matthew alone records. "J esus came to them 
and spake unto them, saying, x\ll authority hath been given 
unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make 
disciples of all the nations/' 155 Their mission was not to be 
limited to the Jewish race: it was to include all the nations 
of the earth. They were not to circumcise their converts 
and make them Jews, but they were to baptize them and 
make them Christians. They were not to labor to glorify or 
to increase the numbers of any particular people or race. 
They were to include all peoples in their propaganda and to 
unite them all in one Christian Church. 

This Gospel is written primarily for the Jews : but it is the 
Gospel of Hope for all the Gentiles ; and these two seemingly 
contradictory but really consistent elements give the Gospel 
its impartial and catholic character, lift it "outside the con- 
tests of the apostolic time," 156 and make it the Gospel of 
Christ's Church. 

9. This is The Gospel of the Church. 

(1) The word e/cKXTjoia, "church," occurs sixty-eight 
times in the epistles, twenty-three times in the book of Acts, 
twenty times in the book of Revelation, and only three times 
in the Gospels ; and each of these three occurrences is in the 
Gospel according to Matthew. As the only Gospel which 
mentions the church by name, it may be distinguished from 
the others by that fact. 

(2) Matthew alone has preserved the promise that the 
church founded upon Peter and Peter's faith would prevail 
against all its future foes. 157 

(3) He alone has recorded the Master's suggestions con- 
cerning church discipline. 158 He alone has the command to 
institute the ordinance of baptism as an initiatory rite in 
church membership. 159 

10. This is The Gospel of the Publican. 

155 Matt. 28. 18, 19. 1M Matt. 18. 17. 

166 Jiilicher, Einleitung, p. 194. "•Matt 28. 19. 
157 Matt. 16. 18. 



68 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

We would expect to find some trace of Matthew's pro- 
fession in his writing. It has been suggested that his ac- 
curacy and his effective arrangement of his materials bear 
evidence to his acquaintance with business ledgers and 
bookkeeping. However, we look for some more particular 
indications of the taxgatherer's interest and observation. 

(i) We notice that Matthew is the only one of the gospel 
writers who has recorded that saying of Jesus to the Phari- 
sees, "John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and 
ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots be- 
lieved him." 160 Did Matthew the publican cherish such a 
saying in memory when others had forgotten it ? He would 
rejoice in the Master's recognition of the publicans' ready 
acceptance of the good news of the gospel. He would be 
glad to record the fact that a believing publican was better 
than an unbelieving Pharisee in the eyes of Jesus. He alone 
has preserved this saying of the Lord. 

The Pharisees hated the publicans, and Matthew the pub- 
lican seems to take delight in recording denunciations of the 
Pharisees. Luke tells us that John the Baptist met the multi- 
tudes who flocked into the wilderness to hear him with the 
discouraging greeting, "Ye offspring of vipers, who warned 
you to flee from the wrath to come?" 161 Matthew takes 
pains to make it clear that it was not the general multitude 
of the people whom John so addressed, but only the Phari- 
sees and Sadducees whom he saw among them. 162 Over 
against that denunciation by the Forerunner at the beginning 
of the Gospel Matthew alone has recorded that great de- 
nunciation of the scribes and the Pharisees by the Master 
toward the ministry's close, culminating with the same 
epithet used by John, "Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, 
how shall ye escape the judgment of hell? 163 Who were 

160 Matt 21. 32. 
181 Luke 3. 7. 

162 Matt 3- 7- 

163 Matt 23. 33. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 69 

these Pharisees? They were the ones who asked Pilate to 
set a watch over the tomb of Jesus, Matthew says. 164 
They were the ones who called Jesus a deceiver, Matthew 
says. 165 They were the ones whom the Master called hypo- 
crites and denounced in unmeasured terms, Matthew says. 166 
We are dependent upon him for these items of information. 
As a publican he was perfectly willing to preserve them in 
his Gospel. 

It has been suggested that the first two chapters are a 
refutation of Pharisaic calumnies. Jesus was born of a 
virgin, he came out of Egypt, he was from Nazareth; but 
none of these things were to his discredit. They were super- 
naturally ordered. Jesus was divinely guided through all 
his life. The calumnies founded upon these facts fade away 
in the light of the whole of the truth. The Pharisees might 
call Abraham their father, 167 and they might call themselves 
the sons of the Kingdom ; but they would be cast forth into 
the outer darkness to weep and gnash their teeth, neverthe- 
less. 168 Had they not said that Jesus cast out demons by 
the prince of demons? 169 Had they not claimed that Jesus 
was the personal representative and partner of Beelzebub? 170 
They would have a chance to find out by personal acquaint- 
ance who Beelzebub was and what sort of people represented 
him, when they were at home with him in hell. Had not 
Jesus called these sons of the kingdom the sons of hell? 171 
Had not Jesus told his disciples to beware of their teach- 
ing? 172 Matthew the publican had winced under the scorn 
of these Pharisees many a time; and he had seen them wince 

191 Matt. 27. 62. 

166 Matt 27. 63. 

"• Matt. 23. 13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29, 33. 

107 Matt. 3. 9. 

1M Matt. 8. 12. 

168 Matt. 9. 34. 

170 Matt. 12. 24. 

171 Matt. 23. 15. 

172 Matt 16. 12. 



70 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

many a time under the Master's scorn. As a converted pub- 
lican he took grim delight in recording some of the Master's 
words concerning them. 

(2) Matthew is the only one of the gospel writers who 
has told us about that payment of the temple tax at Caper- 
naum. The tax collectors asked Peter if his teacher would 
pay the tax ; and Jesus said to Simon, "What thinkest thou, 
Simon? the kings of the earth, from whom do they receive 
toll or tribute?" 173 We can imagine how Matthew was all 
alert to hear the answer to that question. Here was a matter 
which concerned him. He had been a tax-collector a large 
part of his life. The incident awoke within him all the 
memories and the associations of his former career. He 
remembered Peter's reply and the Master's interpretation 
of it, and how the tax was paid with the proceeds of the 
fish Peter caught. He, the publican, is the only evangelist 
to record these things. 

(3) We remember again that when the Herodians asked 
Jesus, "Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar?" both Mark 
and Luke in recording the incident say that Jesus said, 
"Bring me a penny," but Matthew alone tells us that Jesus 
commanded, "Show me the tribute money. 174 He used the 
official term, rd vdfiiofia rov ktjvoov, the established and legal 
requirement of tribute. He had become accustomed to that 
stilted term in the red-tape phraseology of the tax-collector's 
booth; and he alone is careful to say that the exact coin 
which represented the legal tribute money about which they 
questioned lay in the hand of Jesus when he made the reply 
which sent them away marveling and silenced for the time. 

(4) We remember again that Matthew has a double ac- 
count of the Master's declarations concerning the taking of 
oaths, 175 and that we find no parallels to these paragraphs 
in the other Gospels. In the neighborhood of the taxgath- 

178 Matt. 17. 25. 
174 Matt. 22. 19. 
176 Matt. 5. 34-37J 23. 16-22. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 71 

erer's booth there had been much quibbling about the greater 
or less validity of certain oaths. Matthew had heard much 
swearing and forswearing. He may have asked the Master 
for some definite and authoritative statement on this subject. 
When that statement was given he deemed it of sufficient 
importance to be recorded. He put down two distinct utter- 
ances of Jesus in this matter. No other evangelist records 
them. Matthew the publican has preserved them to all time. 

(5) In the sending out of the twelve apostles Mark says 
that Jesus told them to take no brass or copper money, 
XaXKov, in their purse. 176 In the account given by Luke 
the Master commands the apostles to take no silver, dpyvptov, 
for their journey. 177 When we turn to Matthew to find this 
command we notice that he exhausts all the possibilities in 
the coinage of the country at this point and says that the 
apostles were to possess neither gold nor silver nor brass, 
Xqvoov firjde dgyvgov firjde x a ^it° v . 118 Is this difference to be 
accounted for by the fact that the publican was more inter- 
ested in money matters than either Mark or Luke, and that 
he therefore noticed very carefully that Jesus had ruled 
out all the larger as well as the lesser coins of the realm when 
he sent out the twelve to represent him among the peasants 
of Palestine ? This seems to us more probable than that any 
of these words should have been later editorial additions to 
Matthew's originally single term. 

(6) We believe this the more readily since it is apparent 
throughout the first Gospel that Matthew is interested in 
large sums of money as well as in smaller amounts. He 
alone has the parable of the talents. In the Gospel according 
to Mark only three coins are mentioned, the mite and the 
farthing and the penny. These were the smallest coins in 
circulation in Palestine. In the Gospel according to Luke 
we find the parable of the pounds, dealing with larger sums 

179 Mark 6. 8. 
m Luke 9. 3. 
178 Matt 10. 9. 



J2 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

of money. Matthew introduces us to the talent, which was 
worth seventy times as much as the pound and at least eight 
thousand times as much as the penny. Matthew had been 
handling money both in smaller and more considerable sums 
as a publican; and we are not surprised, therefore, to find 
that he mentions more coins and rarer coins and larger sums 
of money than the other evangelists do, and that he is more 
interested in money matters and more careful in naming 
money sums than they seem to be. 

At these points, then, we suspect the special interest of 
the tax-collector to have been manifested in the record. 
They may be deemed sufficient to warrant us in naming this 
Gospel the Gospel of the Publican. 

II. This is The Gospel of Systematic Arrangement. 

We have suggested that the Gospel written by a publican 
would be a Gospel of systematic arrangement. As compared 
with the other synoptics it well deserves this name. E. A. 
Thomson says of it : "It has a methodical arrangement ; such 
as we should expect from one who, as a collector of taxes, 
had been a man of business, trained to system and exactness. 
Matthew does not run on in the order of time, as a mere 
annalist, but groups discourses, parables, miracles, and 
prophecies by themselves, in a topical order, and with a cer- 
tain power of combination that produces an admirable 
effect." 179 Godet, with his usual poetic insight and scien- 
tific accuracy, has put the same truth in these words : "Luke 
is in each case like a botanist who prefers to contemplate a 
flower in the very place of its birth, and in the midst of its 
natural surroundings. Matthew is like the gardener who, 
with a view to some special object, puts together large and 
magnificent bouquets." 18 ° 

As examples of these bouquets, we notice: (i) This 
is the Gospel of the nine beatitudes. There are three times 
three of them ; and no equal cluster can be found in any of 

179 The Four Evangelists, p. 24. 

180 New Testament Studies, p. 16. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 73 

the other evangelists. Luke has four beatitudes in one 
group, and four woes to counterbalance them. 

(2) This is the Gospel of seven consecutive parables, in 
chapter thirteen. They are all parables of the Kingdom. 
Six of them begin with the statement, "The kingdom of 
heaven is like unto — ." The first alone lacks this formula, 
and it, the parable of the sower, is introductory to the history 
of the Kingdom. Jesus sows the seed, makes the beginning. 
Then the Kingdom in its development and history and con- 
summation is pictured in the six succeeding parables. Four 
of these parables Jesus gave to the multitude: the remaining 
three he gave to the disciples alone. 

The number seven stands for completeness, and these 
seven parables give us the foundation, the fortunes, and the 
final fate of the Kingdom. The sower and his seed present 
the beginning experiences of the Kingdom; the tares, its 
appearance through all its earth history; the mustard seed, 
its marvelous growth ; the leaven, its all-pervading and per- 
fect victory ; the treasure, its incomparable value ; the pearl, 
its supreme reward of any sacrifice made for it; the drag-net, 
the end of its earth history. It is a bouquet of flowers, a 
cluster of gems, a galaxy of stars. No group of equal beauty 
and worth can be found in any other Gospel. 

(3) This is the Gospel of ten consecutive miracles. One 
half of the miracles which Matthew records are found 
grouped in the eighth and ninth chapters. A leper is 
cleansed, a paralytic is instantly cured, a fever is cooled and 
routed at His touch, demons are expelled, stormy waves are 
quieted at his command, the dead is brought back to life, the 
blind are restored to sight, the dumb recovers his speech, all 
manner of disease and all manner of sickness is healed. 
How are these marvels accomplished ? By the touch of his 
hand, by a word of command, usually in his presence, but 
sometimes at a distance. Matthew masses them together, 
that ten such narratives in close succession may convince all 
men that this is in very truth the Messiah. 



74 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

(4) This is the Gospel of five continuous discourses. We 
will look at these later. We simply notice them now as 
groups of consecutive sayings of Jesus which are not to be 
paralleled in the other Gospels. 

Matthew evidently is not careful to be chronological in the 
record of his material. He prefers to group together sayings 
and doings from various places and times into impressive, 
massive aggregations. He systematizes his material, ar- 
ranges it under suitable heads, presents it on the topical 
principle. For example, in chapters five to seven we have 
Jesus presenting the constitution of the Kingdom; in chap- 
ters eight and nine, Jesus the miracle-working King over 
disease and devils and death, over nature and man; in 
chapter ten, Jesus the Master of the twelve; in chapter 
eleven, Jesus answering the doubt of the Baptist and the un- 
belief of the Galilaean cities ; in chapter twelve Jesus confut- 
ing his adversaries ; in chapter thirteen, Jesus presenting the 
Kingdom in parables. 

Matthew begins his record of miracles with the cure of 
the leper, a symbol of cleansing from sin, and he closes it 
with the blasting of the fig-tree, a symbol of judgment upon 
sin. He begins his record of the parables with the sower 
scattering his seed, the preaching of the good news of the 
Kingdom to men, and he closes it with the parable of the 
talents, setting forth the sure judgment upon men according 
to their use of the Kingdom's privileges. There is seeming 
intent in this arrangement. Matthew is not following the 
order of events so much as the order of his own purpose and 
plan. This systematic arrangement is apparent in Mat- 
thew's preference for the sacred numbers, three and seven. 
The Gospel of Systematic Arrangement becomes the Gospel 
of the Sacred Numbers. 

12. This is The Gospel of the Threes and Sevens. 

( 1 ) In the first chapter we have a genealogy which is not 
an accurate genealogy. The names are grouped into three 
divisions of fourteen, so that the name of Jesus comes as the 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 75 

seventh name at the end of six sevens. In order to make 
this grouping of three fourteens, three times two times 
seven, Matthew has omitted several names from the list. 
Why has he done it ? It has been suggested that Matthew is 
making a sort of numerical acrostic on the name David. 
In the Hebrew name "David," TVJ, there are three letters, 
and the numerical value of the three letters is 4+6+4=14, 
and this value is multiplied by the sum of units, 14X3, to 
make the total. It is an artificial procedure, but thoroughly 
Jewish ; and in this way Matthew makes his genealogy show 
that Jesus is in truth the son of David. 181 

It has been suggested, again, that the number of stations 
recorded in the wilderness journeying of the Israelites from 
Egypt to Canaan was forty-two ; and Matthew gives forty- 
two names in his genealogical list in order to point out the 
fact that the pilgrim people of God, starting from Abraham 
the father of the faithful, did not find the object of their 
faith and the final resting place of their hope until they came 
in the forty-second generation to Jesus. The discovery of 
these ingenious parallels would have astonished Matthew 
in all probability, and they do not seem very convincing to 
us. We know no better reason for this arrangement of 
threes and sevens than Matthew's evident Jewish fondness 
for these numbers. 

(2) Notice the seven petitions in the Disciples' Prayer. 
Luke has only five of them. We are told that Matthew's 
sevens are usually divisible into fours and threes, setting 
forth the human and the divine aspects of the matter in- 
volved. This division is clearly apparent in the petitions of 
the Disciples' Prayer. Three of them are for the divine 
glory, "Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will 
be done," and four are for our human need : "Give us bread, 
forgive our sins, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from 
the evil one." 



1S1 So, Gf rorer, Die heilige Saga, II, p. 9 note ; and G. H. Box, 
The Interpreter, vol. ii, p. 199. 



76 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

(3) There are seven beatitudes which have to do with per- 
sonal character. The other two pronounce beatitudes upon 
those who are persecuted because they have the character 
set forth in the preceding seven. Of these, the first four 
present characteristics of our humanity: poor in spirit, 
mourning, meek, hungering and thirsting after righteousness. 
The promise is that such shall be filled : and when they are 
filled they become partakers of the divine nature and may 
exercise some of the divine prerogatives. The other three 
beatitudes mount from the human to the divine plane of 
blessedness. They who experience them are merciful even 
as the Father is merciful, are pure even as God is pure, are 
peacemakers even as God is the God of peace. 

(4) In the thirteenth chapter there are the seven parables 
of the kingdom. (5) In the twenty-third chapter there are 
the seven woes. 

(6) We think there are seven clear divisions of the 
book, as we shall see when we come to outline its contents. 
(7) We recall further the seven demons of 1 2. 45, the seven 
fold forgiveness of 18. 21, 22, the seven brethren of 22. 
25, the seven loaves and the seven baskets of fragments in 

15. 34, 37- 

The threes are more numerous than the sevens. We note 
a partial list of them, three fourteens in the genealogy, 

1. 17; three incidents in the infancy — the visit of the Wise 
Men, the flight into Egypt, and the return to Nazareth, 

2. 1-23; three narratives prior to the public ministry, 3. 1 to 
4. 11; three temptations, 4. 1-11; three commands concern- 
ing religious acts — alms, prayer, and fasting, 6. 1-18; three 
prohibitions, 6. 19 to 7. 6; three prayer promises, 7. 7; 
three exhortations, 7. 7-15 ; a threefold "in thy name," 7. 22; 
three miracles of healing — leprosy, paralysis, fever, 8. 1-15; 
three miracles of power — in the natural, demonic, and spir- 
itual spheres, 8. 23 to 9. 8 ; three miracles of restoration — to 
life, sight, and speech, 9. 18-33; three times, "Fear not," 
10. 26, 28, 31; three answers to the question about fasting, 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 77 

9. 14-17; three times, "is not worthy of me," 10. 37, 38; three 
signs to the Pharisees — Jonah, Ninevites, Queen of the 
South, 12. 38-42; three parables of the fields — sower, tares, 
mustard seed, 13. 1-32; three sayings about the "little ones," 
18. 6, 10, 14; three parables of prophetic import, 21. 28 to 
22. 14; three questions put to Jesus, 22. 15-40; three parables 
of warning, 24. 43 to 25. 30; three prayers in Gethsemane, 
26. 39-44; three denials of Peter, 26. 69-75; three questions 
of Pilate, 27. 17, 22, 23; the last words to the disciples — a 
claim, a charge, a promise ; and of these the charge a three- 
fold charge, to make disciples, to baptize, and to teach ; and 
of these the baptism to be into the threefold name of the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 28. 18-20. 

Some of these occurrences of the Jewish sacred numbers 
are easily accounted for on other grounds, but some of them 
seem in both the usage of Jesus and of Matthew to evidence 
the Jewish preference for these triple and septiform groups. 
All Jews were prone to make use of them, and Matthew in 
his Gospel followed the custom which was most natural to 
himself and which was most acceptable to his race. Possibly 
we may find another Jewish trait in the first Gospel in its 
record of divine guidance in dreams. 

13. This is The Gospel of Dreams. 

No other evangelist records any dreams, but Matthew 
introduces six of them into his narrative. We know that 
in the Old Testament the dream was considered one legiti- 
mate and, indeed, ordinary method of the communication of 
the divine will. We read that "when Saul inquired of Je- 
hovah, Jehovah answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by 
Urim, nor by prophets." 182 We read that Jehovah spake to 
Moses mouth to mouth, but he promised to speak to the 
other prophets in Israel in visions and dreams. 183 We re- 
member that promise quoted by Peter at Pentecost : "Your 
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall 

182 1 Sam. 28. 6. 
* Num. 12. 6. 



78 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." 18 . 4 It 
was an Old Testament promise, but Peter declared that it 
was to be fulfilled in New Testament times. Matthew seems 
to have been of the same opinion. 

In the early pages of the Old Testament we have the story 
o«f Joseph the dreamer. He had wonderful visions, and they 
brought him both into great difficulties and into great deliver- 
ances. We owe it to Matthew that on the first pages of our 
New Testament we find the story of another Joseph the 
dreamer. He too has strange visions and they bring him 
into great distress while at the same time they promise him 
great deliverance. 

( i ) He was a righteous man, and he had a righteous man's 
dreams. When he was minded to put Mary away the angel 
of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him she 
was to be the mother of the Saviour of men. 185 It is not 
every man who sees an angel in his dream. No other man 
ever had such a message. 

(2) When Herod sought to take the young child's life 
the Lord himself appeared to Joseph in a dreafii and warned 
him to flee into Egypt. 186 

(3) Again the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to 
Joseph in Egypt, telling him to take the young child and his 
mother and return into the land of Israel. 187 

(4) Another dream warned Joseph to withdraw into Gali- 
lee, and it was thus that Jesus became a Nafcarene. 188 Thus 
we see that at every important crisis in this time of his life 
Joseph was guided by dreams. It surely is an interesting 
fact that no other evangelist has recorded any of these 
things. 

(5) Matthew has put two other most important revela- 
tions in dreams into his narrative, and both of them are 
recorded only by him. These were both granted to Gentiles. 

184 Joel 2. 28. 187 Matt. 2. 19, 20. 

186 Matt. 1. 20. I88 Matt 2. 23. 

186 Matt 2. 13. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 79 

The Wise Men had found Jesus in Bethlehem. Then being 
warned of God in a dream that they should not return to 
Herod, they departed into their own country another way. 189 

(6) Pilate sat upon the judgment seat and the people were 
insisting upon the execution of Jesus. Then his wife, 
Claudia Procla, sent to him, saying, "Have thou nothing to 
do with that righteous man ; for I have suffered many things 
this day in a dream because of him." 190 Five times at the 
beginning of the Gospel and once again at the close of the 
Gospel divine direction is given in a dream. Since nothing 
corresponding to these dreams is recorded in any of the 
other Gospels, we may call the First Gospel the Gospel of 
Dreams. 

14. This is The Gospel of the Five Great Discourses. 

Each of these five great discourses is followed by the 
formula, "And when Jesus had finished these sayings." 

(1) There is the Sermon on the Mount, chapters five to 
seven, in which Jesus "lays down the high spiritual laws of 
the kingdom of heaven. There are no rolling clouds as at 
Sinai, no crashing thunder, no careering fires, no congre- 
gated wings of the rushing angelic host; yet this Galilaean 
hill, with its calm voice, its lowly Teacher, its listening multi- 
tude, its lilies sprinkled on the green grass, is the Sinai of the 
New Covenant. Those beatitudes are its Decalogue, those 
virtues its ritual. Prayer and alms, holiness and humbleness 
of heart, there you have the Leviticus of Christianity, the 
Pentateuch of spiritual worship." 191 

(2) The instruction of the twelve apostles, chapter ten. 

(3) The Kingdom presented in parables, chapter thirteen. 

(4) The constitution of the Church, chapter eighteen. 

(5) The eschatological prophecies and parables, chapters 
twenty- four and twenty-five. These five discourses set forth 
the new law, the new apostolate, the new Kingdom, the new 

188 Matt. 2. 12. 

180 Matt. 27. 19. 

191 Farrar, Op. cit., p. 42. 



80 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

church, the consummation of all things. These doubtless 
formed the main topics of the preaching and teaching of 
Jesus. 

Sir John Hawkins says, "It is hard to believe that it is by 
accident that we find in a writer with the Jewish affinities of 
Matthew this five-times repeated formula, When Jesus had 
finished these sayings," and he calls attention to the parallel 
divisions in the five books of the Pentateuch, the five books 
of the Psalms, the five Megilloth, and other similar groups. 
We remember that Eusebius tells us that Papias wrote a 
commentary on the Logia of Matthew in five books, and 
we wonder if these Five Great Discourses with their iden- 
tical concluding formula may not represent the original five- 
fold division of that book. 

There are, however, many other smaller discourses of 
Jesus recorded by Matthew which are only less valuable 
than the great discourses we have named. The eleventh 
chapter has the eulogy upon John the Baptist, the woes upon 
the Galilaean cities, the thanksgiving for the revelation to 
babes, the invitation to the heavy-laden. The twelfth chapter 
has the sayings about the observance of the Sabbath and the 
unpardonable sin and idle words and sign-seeking. The 
fifteenth chapter has the attack upon the traditions of the 
elders and the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The sixteenth 
chapter has the promise of the keys and the prophecy of the 
crucifixion. The nineteenth chapter contains the discussion 
concerning divorce and the peril of riches. The twentieth 
and twenty-first chapters have the parables of impending 
judgment. The twenty-third chapter has the denunciation 
of the ecclesiastical authorities and almost deserves to rank 
in importance with the five great discourses of the Gospel. 
One fourth of the contents of the first Gospel is represented 
by these discourses, and distinguish it, as the didactic Gospel, 
from the other synoptics. We see Jesus as a popular orator 
in these pages, and have examples of the addresses which 
gave him his reputation and power with the people. The 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 81 

first Gospel is like the fourth in giving so much of its space 
to the discourses of Jesus. 

15. This is The Gospel of the Four Great Mountains. 

These mountains mark the four culminating points in the 
ministry of Jesus. 

(1) The mount of the beatitudes. "Seeing the multitudes, 
Jesus went up into the mountain," 192 and there he sat down 
and preached the mountain sermon of the Christian faith, 
filled with far-reaching visions as from mountain heights 
and lofty ideals like mountain peaks. 

(2) The mount of transfiguration. "Jesus taketh with 
him Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them 
up into a high mountain apart." 193 It was a mountain of 
prayer and a mountain of vision, a mountain of the Divine 
Presence, a "holy mount," 194 where glorified spirits were 
seen and a voice was borne from the Majestic Glory out of 
heaven to men. 

(3) The mount of prophecy. "As he sat on the mount 
of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell 
us, when shall these things be?" 195 From that mountain 
could he look back to the mount of transfiguration and see 
that all which had been said there concerning his decease 
was now about to come true? Could he look farther still, 
back to the mount of the great sermon where he had laid 
down the foundation principles upon which his kingdom 
forever must stand? Did the gladness of the first Galilaean 
ministry and the glory of the transfiguration fill his heart 
as he thought of the past? Or, on this mount did he look 
forward only, and was his heart filled with dismay as he 
thought of all his disciples must endure until the end of 
the age? He said to them, "When therefore ye see the 
abomination of desolation . . . standing in the holy place, 



102 Matt. 5. 1. 
188 Matt. 17. 1. 
194 2 Pet. 1. 18. 
190 Matt. 24. 3. 



82 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

. . . then let them that are in Judaea flee unto the moun- 
tains." 196 There they would find a place of refuge, where 
he had found peace so often for his soul. In the moun- 
tains God and heaven would seem nearer, prayer would be 
easier, and they could see the Son of man coming on the 
clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 

(4) In this Gospel the last appearance of Jesus is on a 
mountain top. "The eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto 
the mountain where Jesus had appointed them." 197 There 
Jesus showed them all the kingdoms of the earth and the 
glory of them, and he told them that all these things belonged 
to him and he could give them to whomsoever he would, and 
he commanded them to go forth and take possession of them 
all in his name. All authority was his, and he would give it 
all to those who would fall down and worship him in spirit 
and in truth. If they obeyed him and taught what he com- 
manded, he would be with them unto the consummation of 
the age. Had not the angel said to Joseph that the promise 
given through Isaiah would be fulfilled in Mary's son, 
"They shall call his name Immanuel; which is, being in- 
terpreted, God with us" ? Now the Messiah assures his dis- 
ciples that that promise, fulfilled in his presence with them 
through his ministry, would continue to be fulfilled for- 
evermore : "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of 
the world." 

Did Jesus think as he said these things of that vision 
in the wilderness in which the devil had taken him unto an 
exceeding high mountain and tempted him with the promise 
of an easy conquest of the authority he had gained now 
through crucifixion? He did not deceive his disciples with 
any promise of easy victory: but he promised victory 
through obedience, even if obedience should be learned 
through suffering. It had been a hard road to travel from 
that mount of temptation to this mount of the great commis- 

196 Matt. 24. 15, 16. 

197 Matt. 28. 16. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 83 

sion. There had been both tribulation and transfiguration 
upon the way ; but now his work was done ; and the victory 
had been won. Upon this mountain-top he makes public 
proclamation of that fact; and it is upon this mountain-top 
of resurrected and unrivaled authority that Matthew leaves 
him. 

Beside these four mountains of the high points of the 
ministry of Jesus, Matthew has (5) the mountain of the 
temptation vision, 4. 8; (6) the mountain of prayer, 14. 23; 
(7) the mountain of healing, 15. 29; and (8) the mount of 
Olives, from which Jesus descended to the triumphal entry, 
21. 1, on which he uttered his great prophecy, 24. 3, and to 
which he went last of all on the night of his betrayal, 26. 30. 
Jesus speaks (9) of the mountain crowned with a city, 
5. 14; (10) the mountain of the lost sheep, 18. 12; (n) 
the mountains of refuge, 24. 16; and (12) the mountain re- 
moved by prayer, 17. 20; 21. 21. 

There is something of mountain grandeur in this Gospel, 
much of the freshness of atmosphere and the clearness of 
vision which is characteristic of the mountain height. Jesus 
loved the mountains, and it would seem that Matthew did 
too. He has more to say of the mountains in this Gospel 
than can be found in any of the other three. We call it the 
Gospel of the Great Mountains in the ministry of Jesus. 

IV. The Man and the Book 

The characteristics of the book are clearly before us now. 
Do they not correspond most closely with the character of 
the man? The Gospel according to Matthew is just such 
a Gospel as Matthew would have been most likely to write. 
He was a Jew who never had lost his sense of relationship 
to his own people, and whose primary interest was in prov- 
ing to his fellow countrymen that Jesus his Master was their 
Messiah, the expected King whose royal authority had in- 
augurated the kingdom prophesied in the Old Testament, 
a kingdom of this earth, but a kingdom of the heavens too. 



84 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

He had been a social outcast and had gained a sympathy 
for all beyond the Jewish pale, such as a Jew who never 
had been under the social ban and never had companied 
with Jesus would not be likely to have. The bitterness of 
spirit inevitable to such a social ostracism as he had ex- 
perienced is apparent in his ever-recurrent pessimism and 
gloom. The hand of the publican is manifest in many minor 
particulars and in the general love of order and of system- 
atic arrangement which has its parallel in the love of right- 
eousness in everything and in every one and in the peculiar 
disposition toward discipline and ecclesiastical recognition, 
so characteristic of both the Gospel and the man. There is 
scarcely a feature of the book which does not correspond 
with some feature of Matthew's peculiar personality. 

All of the gospel writers have the same story to tell, yet 
how differently they tell it! The reason for the difference 
between their narratives is to be found, not in the subject 
whom they portray, nor in the inspiration which they re- 
ceived from him and his words and his life, but in them- 
selves. It is the same white light refracted through many 
prisms. It is the same white life reflected through several 
minds. Each writer has his individual idiosyncrasies. Each 
man has his personal preferences and prejudices. Each man 
has his particular impressions and his peculiar experiences 
and all of these things influence his thought and his writing. 

The two great facts about Matthew were that he had been 
a publican and that he was an apostle. What sort of a Gos- 
pel would an apostle who had been a publican write? Just 
such a Gospel as this. Therefore our study of the character- 
istics of the book leads us all the more readily to agree with 
the unanimous tradition of the ancient church as it was ex- 
pressed by that greatest scholar of the first Christian cen- 
turies and the best authority among them upon all matters 
pertaining to critical investigation and purity of the faith. 
With Origen we say, "I have learned from tradition that 
the first Gospel was written by Matthew, who was once a 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 85 

publican, but afterward an apostle of Jesus Christ," 198 
and to this we add that the more we study the book the more 
we feel acquainted with the man and the more certain we 
are that, however much the book may have been edited in 
later days, it still bears plainly impressed upon it the person- 
ality of the publican apostle. As H. H. B. Ayles has said, 
"The early and unanimous tradition of the church assigns 
the first Gospel to Matthew, and there is no explanation of 
this tradition except that it expresses the actual fact." 199 

This may be a good place to note the fact that the same 
authorities who tell us that Matthew was responsible for 
this Gospel say also that he wrote it in Hebrew. For ex- 
ample, Origen, from whom we have just quoted, continues 
his report of the tradition in his day to the effect that the 
first Gospel "was prepared for the converts from Judaism, 
and published in the Hebrew language." 20 ° This tradition 
of an original Hebrew edition of the Gospel goes back to 
Papias, who is quoted by Eusebius as saying, "Matthew 
wrote the oracles in the Hebrew language, and every one 
interpreted them as he was able." 201 Irenaeus makes the 
same assertion concerning the original Hebrew, 202 and his 
statement is confirmed by Pantaenus, 203 Origen, 204 
Jerome, 205 Cyril of Jerusalem, 206 Epiphanius, 207 and Au- 
gustine. 208 

188 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., VI, 25. Nicene and Post-Nicene 
Fathers, Second Series, vol. i, p. 273. 

1W Interpreter, vol. xii, p. 273. 

200 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., VI, 25. Nicene and Post-Nicene 
Fathers, Second Series, vol. i, p. 273. 

101 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles, III, 39. Nicene and Post-Nicene 
Fathers, Second Series, i, p. 173. 

"'Adv. Haer., Ill, 1. Eusebius, V, 8. 2. 

803 Eusebius, op. cit., V, 10. 3. 

"* Eusebius, op. cit., VI, 25. 

306 Jerome, De vir. ill., 3, 36. 

** Catechet., 14. 

*" Haer., xxx, 3. 

308 Consensus evangelistorum, I, 2. 4. 



86 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Most modern scholars agree that this testimony cannot 
be set aside, and that we must conclude that Matthew wrote 
the Logia at least, and possibly a complete Gospel nar- 
rative in the Aramaic or the Hebrew. They also agree that 
the "Gospel according to the Hebrews" of which we have 
only a few fragments in Latin and Greek cannot be proved 
to have any connection with our first Gospel, and it is 
doubtful if Matthew the Apostle had anything to do with 
that work. There is also a general agreement that our 
canonical Matthew is not a translation from the Hebrew, 
but was written originally in Greek. This is the conclu- 
sion of Alford, Allen, Beza, Bleek, Calvin, Credner, David- 
son, Delitzsch, Dods, Ellicott, Erasmus, Ewald, Fritzsche, 
Hilgenfeld, Holtzmann, Hug, Julicher, Keil, Keim, Kostlin, 
McGiffert, Morison, Lightfoot, Lardner, Paulus, Reuss, 
Ritschl, Roberts, Salmon, Schott, Stuart, Tischendorf, 
Thomson, Weiss, Wilke, Wetstein, De Wette, Zahn. 

Since all ancient tradition is unanimous in ascribing our 
first Gospel to Matthew and in saying that he wrote the 
Gospel originally in Hebrew, it follows that an original 
Hebrew Gospel written by Matthew is now lost, and that 
at some later date he must have written the Gospel again 
in Greek. This Greek Gospel was not a translation from 
the Hebrew, but it may have paralleled the other very closely 
and it must have superseded it entirely after a time. 209 
The tradition of the Matthean authorship would not have at- 
tached itself to this Greek Gospel without good reason. 
The most simple and sufficient reason would be that he 
himself was known to have been concerned in its composi- 
tion. We think that we are in a position now to appeal with 
all confidence to the internal evidence furnished by the book 
itself in support of the external tradition. 

The characteristics of the book are the characteristics of 
the man. We scarcely could conceive of a book which 

209 So, Bengel, Benson, Bloomfield, Home, Lee, Ellicott, Guericke, 
Olshausen, Thiersch, and Schaff. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 87 

would answer more perfectly to all which we know of 
Matthew the man. Therefore, when we find the best 
modern criticism agreeing upon the "strong individuality" 
in this book and the "clear purpose" running through it, the 
"uniform character" of its composition 210 and the "con- 
sistency of its representation," we conclude that it cannot 
be a mere compilation from many and various sources, but 
that one personality has impressed itself upon the whole 
work, and our study has made it clear that no other person- 
ality would meet all the requirements of the case as well as 
that of Matthew, to whom all the early tradition in the 
church uniformly ascribed it. 

We are ready, then, to agree with one of the most recent 
writers upon the subject of Gospel Origins when he makes 
the general statements that "from the time when the Gos- 
pels began to circulate or to be appealed to, it was the 
common tradition of the Christian Church that they were 
written by those whose names they bear," and "this tradi- 
tion rested upon no claim made within the books them- 
selves, and the only possible explanation of it is that the 
tradition rested upon facts so clearly within the cognizance 
of the Christian Church that denial of the received author- 
ship was held to be impossible." 211 We may conclude 
with this author that this tradition does not solve any or 
all of the details of the Synoptic Problem for us; and 
while we postpone the discussion of these for the present, 
we hold fast to the fundamental truth that in the case of 
each Gospel we have one name, and only one name, attached 
as author, and that in the case of the first Gospel the name 
of the author and the character of the man correspond with 



210 Reville: "These favorite constructions entwine the whole book 
in a net evidently stretched by one and the same hand." Credner, 
to like effect : "These peculiar modes of expression, which uniformly 
recur in the whole course of the writing, show the unity of the 
author." 

211 Holdsworth, Gospel Origins, p. 23. 



88 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

the characteristics of the book with an astonishing exactness 
and perfection. 

V. Peculiar Portions 

We notice at this point some of the sections in this Gospel 
which are not paralleled in any of the other Gospel records. 

1. The four events of the infancy history given in the 
second chapter: the visit of the Wise Men, the slaughter 
of the innocents, the flight into Egypt, and the return to 
Nazareth. 

2. Matthew records thirty-three miracles, and three of 
them are found in the first Gospel alone : the healing of the 
two blind men, chapter nine; Peter walking on the water, 
chapter fourteen; and the coin in the fish's mouth, if there 
is any miracle implied in this narrative, chapter seventeen. 
. 3. There are fifteen parables in this Gospel, and ten of 
them are not found elsewhere: the tares, the hid treasure, 
the pearl of great price, and the dragnet, chapter thirteen; 
the unmerciful servant, chapter eighteen ; the laborers in the 
vineyard, chapter twenty ; the two sons, chapter twenty-one ; 
the marriage of the king's son, chapter twenty-two; the ten 
virgins and the talents, chapter twenty-five. 

4. There are at least seven important incidents connected 
with the Passion and resurrection week which Matthew 
alone has recorded: the bargain of Judas, chapter twenty- 
six; the suicide of Judas, the dream of Pilate's wife, the 
resurrection of the departed saints, and the watch set at the 
sepulcher, chapter twenty-seven; the Sanhedrin explana- 
tion of the open tomb, and the earthquake on the resurrec- 
tion morning, chapter twenty-eight. 

We have noticed the greater and smaller discourses 
recorded by Matthew alone, and we have seen that the 
phrases, "it is fulfilled," "in order that it may be fulfilled," 
"in order that the thing spoken may be fulfilled" are char- 
acteristic of Matthew's use, as is the phrase, "the kingdom 
of the heavens" and the word "church." "The kingdom of 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 89 

the heavens" is not found elsewhere in the New Testament. 
"The church" occurs one hundred and eleven times in the 
epistles and the book of Acts, but it is not found in any 
other Gospel. These characteristic phrases are not found 
in any one portion of the book, but are scattered throughout, 
and they bear their witness to the literary unity of the 
composition. One hand has gone carefully over the whole 
and made it a single articulated work ; and it does not seem 
so likely that these phrases would be foisted into the nar- 
rative by an editor as that they would belong to the original 
text furnished by the author. 

VI. The Aim of the Gospel 

John David Michaelis said, "He who does not know ex- 
actly the aim that each apostle set before him in writing his 
Gospel or his letter will never understand that writing 
completely." We are ready now to ask what aim Matthew 
set before him in the composition of his book. Some critics 
have found the first Gospel a book of strange contradictions 
and have been unable to believe in its unity of authorship 
or singleness of aim. Others, like Bernhard Weiss and 
Ernest Burton and Frederic Godet, have no difficulty in 
discerning the purpose of the book. 

Matthew writes for the Jews, and he shows them clearly 
that Jesus was the Messias promised in their own Scriptures, 
but, unrecognized and rejected and crucified by themselves, 
he, the Jewish Messias, had become the head of a church 
partly Jewish but largely Gentile and destined to include all 
the races of men. The disciples of Jesus represented the 
true Israel, whether they were Gentiles or Jews. All Jews 
who were not Christians were no longer members of the 
church of God. 

Matthew's book, therefore, was more than a history. It 
was an attack upon all the existing Jewish ecclesiasticism. 
Matthew said to all the religious authorities of his day and 
to all unbelieving Jews: "You have crucified your own 



90 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Messias. We welcomed him and are true to him still. You 
are the deserters ; we have stood by the truth. All the Old 
Testament prophecies were fulfilled in him, not simply single 
prophecies, but all of them. However, they were fulfilled 
contrary to expectation. Jesus came from Galilee, not 
from Judaea. He lived in Nazareth and not in Bethlehem. 
He was a humble Teacher and not a conquering King. He 
was the Suffering Servant of Jehovah and not the Majestic 
Monarch of your dreams. The reason for this lies in your 
own guilt. Jesus was born at Bethlehem, and he was driven 
to Nazareth by the guilty, murderous plot of your own 
king. You yourselves made him a Galibean; and in that 
way seemingly contradictory prophecies are fulfilled in him, 
as 'Out of Bethlehem shall he be called,' 212 and 'He will be 
a light in the borderland of Galilee.' 213 Hear, O Israel; 
believe, and be saved. You have rejected the Messias 
Here are the facts which prove that true. Repent, therefore, 
and accept him, or take the consequences upon your own 
heads. You will be rejected by him in his turn and your 
kingdom will pass into other hands." 

The first Gospel had something of the character of an 
official ultimatum. It was a last call of Jehovah to his 
people : "This is my beloved Son ; hear him and obey him, 
or perish in the swift judgment coming upon your city and 
race." This book then is half law and half gospel. It closes 
the Old Testament as it opens the New. It bridges the 
chasm between the old and the new dispensations. It shows 
that the memories and the hopes of God's people are to 
find their consummation in one man, the Lord of the Chris- 
tians and the Messias of the Jews. 

The first Gospel was not the first book of the New Testa- 
ment to be written. It probably was not the first of the 
Gospels to be written, yet it stands appropriately first in our 
New Testament canon. Matthew shows that God's eternal 



™ Matt. 2. 6. 
218 Matt 4. 15, 16. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 91 

purpose has not been thwarted but consummated in the 
life and death of Jesus. Christianity is the fulfillment of 
the Old Testament faith. The words of Jesus in the great 
sermon, "I came not to destroy, but to fulfil," 214 might have 
been written on the title-page as the motto of the book. 

Its aim is both apologetic and polemic. It defends the 
Christian position. It defies the Jewish anti-Christian cam- 
paign. It appeals to the Christians to be loyal to Jesus even 
though it may seem disloyalty to their own people to be so. 
In the overwhelming calamities which were coming upon 
the Jews they must choose between loyalty to their race and 
loyalty to him. The race was doomed: salvation could be 
found only in the resurrected Lord. 

VII. The Gospel's Affinities Among the New 
Testament Books 

The spirit and purpose of the Gospel according to Mat- 
thew ally it most closely with those New Testament books 
which were written for Jewish Christians or represented 
the tone and attitude of the Jewish Christian Church. 

1. The Epistle to the Hebrews has much the same general 
aim. It endeavors to prove to the Christians among the 
Hebrews that in spite of all appearances and all disappoint- 
ments they had the better of their unbelieving countrymen, 
and, if the worst came to the worst, they would be justified 
in going out of the camp with Jesus their Lord. Paul 
thought good Christians might be good Jews as well. Mat- 
thew and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews saw 
clearly that the time was near at hand when a choice must 
be made and the loyal Christian would find it necessary to 
break with the peculiar rites and the temple worship of his 
race. Both books are apologetical and polemical. They per- 
suade the Jews to be Christians by proving that Christian 
Jews have infinitely the better of the bargain, for they alone 

*"Matt. 5. 17. 



92 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

have the fulfillment of the nation's hope and the assurance 
of salvation in the nation's Messiah. 

2. The Epistle of James is probably the most Jewish of 
the New Testament Epistles. It makes no mention of the 
incarnation or redemption or the resurrection and ascen- 
sion. It has so few distinctively Christian elements in it 
that one modern critic has decided that it is a purely Jewish 
writing which has crept in among the Christian books. The 
word "gospel" does not occur in this Jewish epistle ; but we 
are not surprised to find that it has many points of contact 
with the Gospel according to Matthew, the Jewish Gospel. 
There are at least ten passages which parallel the teachings 
of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Nowhere else in 
the New Testament can we find so many allusions to this 
sermon in the same limited space. The whole epistle 
breathes the spirit of the teachings of Jesus, as recorded by 
Matthew. There are the same ethical standards. There is 
the same sternness of rebuke for wrongdoers. There is the 
same sympathy for the wronged. We conclude that Mat- 
thew must have given us a true picture of Jesus when we 
find that James, his brother, thinks and speaks so much 
like him. The affinities between these two books help to 
substantiate the claims of each to authenticity. 

3. There is one other book in the New Testament which 
seems akin to the first Gospel in its Jewish undertone and 
general spirit. That is the closing book of the canon, the 
Apocalypse of John. In the Encyclopaedia Britannica 
Edwin Abbott says of the first Gospel that it "lays special 
stress upon the sin of religious ostentation and hypocrisy," 
and he further characterizes it by saying, "Matthew, more 
than the rest of the evangelists, seems to move in evil days, 
and amid a race of backsliders, among dogs and swine who 
are unworthy of the pearls of truth, among the tares sown 
by the enemy, among fishermen who have to cast back many 
of the fish caught in the net of the gospel; the broad way 
is ever in his mind, and the multitude of those that go 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 93 

thereby, and the guest without the wedding garment, and 
the foolish virgins, and the goats as well as the sheep, and 
those who even cast out devils in the name of the Lord, and 
yet are rejected by him because they work lawlessness. ,, 215 
We are reminded of the synagogue of Satan in the 
Apocalypse, composed of those who say they are Jews, and 
they are not, but do lie. 216 We are reminded of the Lao- 
diceans who said they were rich and had need of nothing, 
when they were wretched and miserable and poor and blind 
and naked. 217 We remember that the whole Apocalypse is 
filled with wars and plagues and thunders and the vengeance 
of God upon all his adversaries. We find that the woes of 
the twenty-third chapter of Matthew have their apocalyptic 
counterpart in the woes of the ninth, eleventh, and eigh- 
teenth chapters of this book. We find that the Apocalypse 
is built upon Old Testament allusions and phraseology, 
and is saturated with the Old Testament spirit to a fuller 
extent than any other book in the New, and we remember 
that Matthew makes the first Gospel a Gospel of the ful- 
fillment of Old Testament promises and prophecies ; and we 
see in this constant reference to the Old Testament another 
link of resemblance between the two. These four books — 
the Gospel according to Matthew, the Epistle to the He- 
brews, the Epistle of James, the Apocalypse of John — are 
Jewish-Christian books, with a fuller emphasis upon the 
Jewish side of the equation than is to be found in any of 
the other New Testament books. From this point of view 
they form a class by themselves. As the Gospel for the 
Jews the first Gospel has closest affinities with this group of 
New Testament books. 

VIII. Outline of the Gospel 
Professor Moorehead suggests a simple outline. "1. The 



* 5 Ninth edition, vol. x, p. 715. 
M8 Rev. 3- 9- 



Rev. 3. 17. 



94 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

King's birth, chapters 1-2. 2. The Kingdom proclaimed, 
chapters 3-7. 3. The King's ways and works, chapters 
8-12. 4. The mysteries of the Kingdom, chapters 13-20. 

5. The King rejected, chapters 21-23. 6. The coming and 
judgment of the King, chapters 24-25. 7. Salvation 
through the death and resurrection of the King, chapters 
26-28." 218 

From the lectures of Bernhard Weiss in Berlin we re- 
produce this more elaborate outline: 1. The Son of David is 
born in Bethlehem and through the guilt of Israel is driven 
to Nazareth, chapters 1-2. 2. Jesus through the guilt of 
Israel is made the servant of the heathen, 3. 1 to 4. 12. 
3. Jesus proves himself a prophet in Israel, mighty in 
word and in deed, 4. 13 to 9. 35. 4. Jesus through his dis- 
ciples provides for Israel, 9. 36 to 13. 53. 5. Jesus de- 
votes himself to the instruction of his disciples, as the be- 
ginners and founders of the future church, 13. 54 to 20. 16. 

6. Jesus stands before death with freedom and conscious- 
ness, ready to seal his Messiahship, 20. 17 to 25. 46. 7. 
Jesus put to death. He becomes King of his church which 
shall be gathered out of all peoples, while Israel through its 
own guilt is rejected, 26. 1 to 28. 20. 

As President Weston has suggested, "The first book of 
the Old Testament records the calling out of a nation from 
which the Messiah should come; this first book of the New 
Testament records the calling out of a nation in which the 
Messiah shall dwell." 219 The story climaxes toward the 
close. The last chapters rise into epic grandeur. Robert 
Louis Stevenson said of them, "I believe that they will move 
and startle anyone, who will read them freshly like any 
other book." They have moved multitudes as no other 
chapters in the New Testament have. Tears have filled the 
eyes of those who read this matchless narrative of the clos- 
ing scenes in the greatest of this world's tragedies. Matthew 

218 Studies in the Four Gospels, pp. 78, 79. 

218 Matthew, the Genesis of the New Testament, p. 34. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 95 

is usually as self-restrained as any bookkeeper or any mere 
annalist, but at the close of this Gospel he astonishes us 
with his pathos and his power. 

IX. Time and Place of Writing 

Eusebius tells us that "of all the disciples of the Lord, 
only Matthew and John have left us written memorials, and 
they, tradition says, were led to write only under the pres- 
sure of necessity. For Matthew, who had at the first 
preached to the Hebrews, when he was about to go to other 
peoples, committed his Gospel to writing . . . , and thus 
compensated those whom he was obliged to leave for the 
loss of his presence." 220 The Gospel speaks of "the holy 
city" and "the holy place," as if they were still in existence. 
Therefore both the church tradition and the internal evi- 
dence lead us to think that the book must have been written 
before the fall of Jerusalem. Keim says, "The book was 
written about the year A. D. 66." 221 Hug, Bleek, Ayles, 
Allen, Meyer, Holtzmann, Godet, Keim, Keil, Olshausen, 
Ebrard, Lange, and others approximately agree. 

At Jerusalem or in some city of Palestine Matthew prob- 
ably wrote the most of the record of the life of his Lord be- 
fore he began his foreign missionary labors. The actual 
publication may have been elsewhere. Weiss suggests 
Ephesus or Asia Minor. 222 Wright thinks that Alexandria 
or Egypt 223 satisfies the conditions. Allen prefers Antioch 
or Syria. 224 Sanday suggests Damascus or Antioch. 225 We 
have no data upon which to found any sure conclusion at 
this point. 

Eusebius tells us that the Gospel according to Matthew 

220 III, 24. 6. 

"I, 73- 

"* Introduction, II, p. 287. 

228 Interpreter, vol. ii, p. 247. 

221 Expository Times, vol. xxii, p. 350. 

226 Oxford Studies in the Synoptic Problem, p. 24. 



96 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

was carried into the foreign missionary field in the days of 
the apostles. Bartholomew took it to India, and Pantsenus 
found it there in later days, preserved among them with 
pious care. 226 Since the time of Pantsenus it has gone about 
the world. It has been a blessing to all the nations. The 
name of Matthew has been cherished wherever the gospel 
of Christ has been preached. He wrote for the Jews, but 
the Gospel has been claimed by the Gentile races as well. 
The world has appreciated it. All time has added to its 
laurels. The publican who wrote it stands among the im- 
mortals. The power and the presence of his Master was 
with him in his writing and has been with his book through 
all the days. 

Renan and Julicher would seem to have been justified 
when they said it was the most important book of Christen- 
dom, and that it has exerted its enormous influence upon 
the church because it was written by a man who bore 
within himself the spirit of the growing Church Universal 
and who knew how to write a Gospel destined and fitted 
for all manner of believers. 

828 V, 10.3. 



PART II 

THE MOST AUTHENTIC GOSPEL: THE GOSPEL 
ACCORDING TO MARK 



PART II 

THE MOST AUTHENTIC GOSPEL: THE GOSPEL 
ACCORDING TO MARK 

I. The Author 

The second Gospel always has been called the Gospel ac- 
cording to Mark. The "Mark" who was its author usually 
has been identified in church tradition with the "John 
Mark" mentioned in Acts 12. 12. 1 There we read that 
Peter when released from prison went to the house of Mary 
the mother of John whose surname was Mark. Accepting 
this identification as an authentic one, we notice first this 
rather unusual name. 

1. His Name. Paul tells us that this man was a Jew. 2 
Therefore his original name would be the Hebrew name 
"John." That name meant, "Jehovah is gracious." It also 
was the name of the author of the fourth Gospel. The 
second Gospel and the fourth Gospel were both written 
by "John." The first of the Gospels to be written and the 
last of the Gospels to be written bore this proclamation upon 
their forefront, "Jehovah is gracious." In the superscrip- 
tion of the author's name, if they had it, each declared that 
the gospel which followed would be a gospel of grace. 
The name of the author of the first Gospel had a like import. 
Matthew means, "the gift of Jehovah, Jehovah's gracious 
gift." The third Gospel has been distinguished from the 
others as the Gospel of Grace. It is full of words of grace 

1 This identification has been disputed by Grotius, Calovius, Cave, 
Tillemont and others; but modern scholarship is practically agreed 
upon it. 

a Col. 4. 10, 11. 

99 



ioo THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

and deeds of grace. The four Gospels have this character- 
istic in common, that they set forth the grace of our God 
to all men. The names of the authors of three of them sug- 
gest this fact, and the character of the other evangelist 
exemplified it. Could this have had anything to do with 
their choice for this work? 

When this second evangelist was born, his mother was 
grateful and said, "Jehovah is gracious to have given me 
a son. I will call his name John." Later, for some reason 
unknown, "John" had a surname added and was called 
"John Mark." This name "Mark" was a Roman name, a 
Gentile name. It was the Latin name "Marcus," mean- u 
ing "a heavy hammer." There is some reason for thinking 
that Mark had some stump fingers, as we shall see later on. 
r May it not be possible that he had met with some accident 
in his young manhood, in which a heavy hammer had fallen 
upon the fingers of his left hand and crushed the ends of 
two or more of them, and that the presence of that deform- 
ity and the memory of its cause was responsible for this 
surname? We do not know that the suggestion has been 
made by any one before, but in lack of any other certain 
explanation of this surname we may be content to let it 
stand. 

Through all his later life this man answered to either 
name, "John" or "Mark," or to the double name, "John 
Mark." John was his name in early life. Mark seems to 
have become his more common name in later life. At times 
he was called John whose surname is Mark in his middle 
life. All these names appear in the New Testament. John 
alone is found in two passages in Acts. 3 The double name, 
John Mark, occurs three times in the Book of Acts. 4 The 
name "Mark" occurs alone five times, once in Acts, three 
times in the Pauline Epistles, and once in First Peter. 5 

8 Acts 13. 5, 13. 

* Acts 12. 12, 25; 15. 37. 

5 Acts 15. 39; Col. 4. 10; 2 Tim. 4. 11 ; Philem. 24; 1 Pet. 5. 13. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 101 

These passages with their context give us all the facts con- 
cerning John Mark's life contained in the New Testament. 
Before turning to these, however, let us notice that John 
Mark's name is half Hebrew and half Roman and marks its 
bearer as the man best fitted to introduce the gospel of the 
Hebrew Messias to the Roman world. The second Gospel 
is the gospel written by a Jew for the Latin race. 

2. Facts of His Life. Mark's mother was Mary, one of 
the many Marys whose names stand for all that is good in 
the New Testament narratives. This Mary is the represen- 
tative of open-handed and munificent hospitality. She 
probably was well-to-do. She had a home in Jerusalem, a 
home with a large enclosed porch before it, 6 and with a 
large assembly room inside it. 7 This room was thrown open 
for a prayer service, and many were gathered together in 
it. There may have been many servants in the home. We 
know that there was one maid whose duty it was to attend 
upon the door. This home seems to have been a sort of 
headquarters for the leaders of the Christian Church in 
Jerusalem. Peter went directly to this house when he was 
released from prison, and the maid who came to the door 
and heard his voice recognized it instantly. 

Peter evidently was well known to all the inmates of 
that home, and it may have been his home when he was in 
Jerusalem. He calls Mark his "son" 8 and it has been 
thought that this term of intimate association and affection 
meant that Peter was responsible for Mark's conversion. 
Mark was his son in the gospel, we are told. We think 
it just as probable that Peter had lived in the home in Jeru- 
salem with Mark until the older man had come to regard 
the younger man with all the intimate affection he could 
have given to a son of his own. If Mary was a widow, Peter 
may have been the responsible head of the household, and 

•Acts 12. 13. 
7 Acts 12. 12. 
8 1 Pet 5. 13. 



102 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Mark may have come to seem to him as his son in that 
relationship. 
. Mary was related to Barnabas, a man of generous 
' heart and ample means. The two may have shared the 
same family wealth, and they seem to have had much in 
common in their personal disposition. When Barnabas and 
Saul came to Jerusalem together they probably were enter- 
tained in Mary's home, for it was a hospitable home and 
Barnabas was a relative; and it was at this time that Mark 
left this home and went to Antioch with these men. 9 If they 
had been entertained in his home it would have been easier 
for him to go away with the two guests whom his mother 
had so honored and trusted and with whom he had thus 
become so well acquainted. Mark accompanied Barnabas 
and Paul on their first missionary journey. 10 He gave 
promise of very valuable assistance to them. 

In his home he had been thrown into constant association 
' with Peter and the other disciples of Jesus, and for ten years 
there his mind had been stored with rich treasure of remi- 
niscence of their narratives concerning the work and the 
words of the Master. Paul was wholly lacking at this point, 
and Barnabas probably never had had the opportunities 
which Mark had enjoyed. Wherever they went Mark could 
be their surety for the facts upon which all their gospel 
preaching was based. He could quote the testimony of eye- 
witnesses for all the incidents of the marvelous history. At 
first they were not disappointed in him; but at Perga in 
Pamphylia Mark determined, for some reason which must 
have seemed sufficient to him and which seemed altogether 
^ ' insufficient to Paul, that it was high time for him to break 
with the missionary expedition and return to his home in 
Jerusalem. 11 

Barnabas and Paul went on alone. After the first mis- 



8 Acts 12. 25. 
"Acts 13. 5. 
"Acts 13. 13. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 103 

sionary journey they came back to Antioch, and after they 
had gone down to Jerusalem and in all probability had been 
entertained again in Mary's hospitable home, they made 
another short stay in Antioch ; and then Paul proposed that 
they go again upon a missionary tour. Barnabas agreed, 
and he was minded to take with them John Mark. Two r 
years had passed, and Mark may have been a better man by ) 
this time ; but Paul was unwilling to risk a second desertion 
on his part. He called him an apostate, and declared he 
would have nothing more to do with such a man. Barnabas f 
defended his cousin as well as he could. The discussion 
waxed warm, and at last there was a paroxysm of rage on the \ 
part of one or both of them, 12 and Paul preferred to part 
company with Barnabas rather than to be forced to keep 
company with Mark. 

Eleven years later Paul either had repented his deci- V 
sion concerning Mark or Mark had so improved in 
character that he felt warranted in restoring him to his 
favor. Paul calls him a "fellow worker" in the Epistle 
to Philemon, 13 and in the Epistle to the Colossians he de-\ 
clares that Mark has been "a comfort" to him. 14 Later still , 
he tells Timothy that Mark is "useful to him for minister- 
ing." 15 From the salutation appended to Peter's epistle we 
learn that Mark was associated with Peter at the time his 
epistle was written. 16 

These are the facts recorded in the New Testament con- 
cerning Mark. We have his mother's name, and are given 
some glimpse of his home in Jerusalem. We know that he 
became associated in ministerial and missionary work with 
three of the great leaders of the early Christian Church, 
namely, Barnabas, Peter, and Paul. Barnabas was his 



13 iy£v€To 8£ Trapo£v<rn6s, Acts 1 5. 39. 
18 Philem. 24. 
"Col. 4. 11. 
15 2 Tim. 4. 11. 
"1 Pet 5- 13. 



104 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

cousin, 17 and he probably was kindly disposed toward Mark 
for that reason. Peter may have sympathized with him be- 
cause he found that they were much alike in personal char- 
acter, so much so that they might have been father and son. 
Was it pure fickleness which led Mark to desert Barnabas 
and Paul on that first missionary journey? Paul would 
not have forgiven him if he had had no better reason for 
going home at that time than that he had changed his mind. 
Peter would have found a bond of sympathy in any such 
incident. He had changed his mind so often himself that he 
could easily forgive anyone else for doing it. 

Peter was more willing to bear with weak and vacillat- 
ing brethren than Paul was. It was his commission to 
\ strengthen the brethren. 18 He prayed the God of all grace 
to perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle all who were im- 
perfect and needed stability. 19 To Paul's mind stability was 
\ an essential to respectability. He would not fellowship with 
anyone who lacked it. When Peter changed his mind there 
at Antioch and Barnabas was carried away into the dissimu- 
lation, Paul withstood them to the face. He declared that 
they were traitors to the truth of the gospel, and he would 
have nothing to do with them until they repented and had 
approved themselves again. 20 When Mark proved apostate 
at Perga in Pamphylia, Paul was ready to cut him off at 
once. As long as Mark was unrepentant he would have 
nothing more to do with him. Mark must have proved him- 
self repentant and faithful in the ministry before Paul finally 
acknowledged him as a fellow worker and found him a com- 
fort and useful in attendant services. 

Mark always appears in notable company in the New 
Testament, but always in a subordinate position. He is 
attendant, minister, interpreter, servant all the time. Each 



17 Col. 4. 10. 

18 Luke 22. 32. 
19 1 Pet. 5. 10. 
20 Gal. 2. 11-18. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 105 

of the four symbols assigned to the four evangelists has been 
given to Mark by some one of the church Fathers, but the 
one most appropriate to his personal character and to the 
picture given of him in the New Testament is that of the 
ox. In early life he was somewhat immature, but in later 
life he was as serviceable as an ox. Upon the basis of the 
facts recorded in the New Testament what conception shall 
we form of the character of this man Mark? 

3. His Character. We are disposed to think that Mark \ 
was the spoiled child of a wealthy widow. His mother 
lavished all her affection upon him. He had everything 
pretty much his own way in the home. He was reared in 
comparative luxury. He knew little or nothing of hardship, 
and he was not disposed to court any acquaintance with it. 
It was almost inevitable that he should be lacking in 
heroic fiber. When his mother became a devoted Christian, ] 
and Barnabas and Saul were entertained in her home, the 
young man became fired with enthusiasm for the new cause ; 
but it was boyish enthusiasm, not like that of the older 
men. When Barnabas and Saul determined to go upon the 
first missionary journey Mark volunteered at once to accom- 
pany them. It was a romantic undertaking and there would 
be great adventure. He set out in high glee. At Perga in 
Pamphylia his enthusiasm had subsided, his missionary zeal 
had disappeared, his whole attitude toward the enterprise 
had changed, and he left Barnabas and Paul to go on with- 
out him while he went home to his mother. 

At least four considerations may have had a share in 
bringing about this change of heart on the part of Mark. 

(1) It may have been the first time that Mark had been 
away from home. He had not realized what life would be 
without a fond mother close at hand. Barnabas was kindly \ 
and Paul was well disposed, but neither of them could take 
the place of a mother. Mark got increasingly homesick all 
the time. Those who have had bad attacks of homesickness 
say that it is a terrible disease, and that those of us who 



106 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

never have had it can have no conception of the miseries its 
victims endure. It was awful in the island of Cyprus, but 
Mark kept hoping that they would soon turn back home 
again. On they went the whole length of the island, and 
then, to Mark's utter dismay, they decided to set sail for Asia 
Minor. They were going still farther from home! They 
surely had gone far enough ! 

Mark may have been seasick on the way over. Anyway 
when they arrived at Perga he was so wretched that he had 
visions of a serious illness there in a strange land and of a 
lonely death before his mother would get the news of his 
condition and hasten to the bedside of her only son. There 
was that young man at Nain whom the Master had restored 
to his home, because he was the only son of his mother and 
she a widow. The more Mark thought about it the more 
certain he was that he ought to be restored to his home. 
He heard his mother calling to him in his sleep. He dreamed 
that he saw her weeping in her loneliness. He wept himself 
when he was awake at the thought of her sorrow and the 
poignant realization of his own distance from all the famil- 
iar comforts of home. Barnabas said to him: "Cheer up! 
I am here, and I will see that you come to no harm." 
"Yes," said Mark, "you are here ; but where is my mother ? 
Nobody can take the place of my mother." Paul said, 
"Come along! You will feel better after awhile. Nobody 
ever died of homesickness yet." Then Mark said to him- 
self: "That settles it. He is a hard-hearted, unfeeling 
enthusiast. My mother never would talk to me like that. I 
am going back to my mother." He was young and lacked 
as yet the stamina necessary for missionary work. 

(2) Added to this general feeling of homesickness there 
was the certainty that he must endure hardships and face 
dangers and suffer persecutions upon which he had not 
calculated, if he went any farther on this missionary 
journey. At Antioch he had been among brethren. In 
Cyprus he had been in the neighborhood of the ancestral 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 107 

estates. At Perga, however, he was facing toward peoples 
and lands which were altogether strange. He had made 
some inquiries about the docks and in the taverns, and a 
number of people had told him that the very road upon 
which Barnabas and Paul were now thinking of traveling 
was infested with brigands and they would be in peril of 
robbers all the way. He did not know that Paul would be 
stoned and left for dead on this journey, but he knew that 
any one of them might have such an experience almost any 
day. He had been coddled more or less all his life, and this 
seemed altogether too dangerous to him. His mother would 
be worried about him, he was sure. It would be well for 
him to go back and assure her that he was safe. She would 
not want him to run into any unnecessary perils or to take 
any unnecessary risks. "Do not be afraid," said Barnabas. 
"Stand fast in the faith, quit you like a man, be strong," 
said Paul. "No," said Mark. "If you older men should 
die, you would not lose much; but I have all of life before 
me. I do not care to die just yet." 

(3) There may have been another reason why Mark was 
disaffected at just this point in this journey. When they 
had left Antioch his relative Barnabas was the leader of the \ 
expedition. The Holy Spirit had said, "Separate me Barna- 
bas and Saul for this work." 21 Sergius Paulus had sum- 
moned Barnabas and Saul to hear from them the word 
of God. 22 The name of Barnabas comes first in these pas- h 
sages. He evidently was the recognized head of the com- 
pany, as the older and wealthier and better known and more \ 
influential man of the two. Yet even upon Cyprus Paul 
seems to have been the more prominent of the two workers, 
and when they leave Cyprus the record reads, "Now Paul 
and his company set sail." 23 Henceforth Barnabas holds 
the subordinate position, and Paul becomes the outstanding 

"Acts 13. 2. 
"Acts 13. 7. 
"Acts 13. 13. 



h 



108 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

figure in all the missionary history. Mark may have been 
disgruntled at this unexpected deposing of his cousin and 
promoting of the younger and less sympathetic man, Paul. 
We take it that Barnabas with his generous heart would 
yield gracefully to the trend of affairs and would be alto- 
gether willing that Paul should increase while he should 
decrease, if the mission only prospered more largely in 
Paul's hands ; but Mark was a younger man and more hot- 
headed and impulsive. 

He probably argued the case out with Barnabas himself : 
"Were you not a Christian long before this man Paul 
ever came into the church? Did you not introduce him at 
Jerusalem and become sponsor for him in the beginning? 
Does he not owe all his standing among the brethren in the 
first instance to you? Did you not recall him from Tarsus 
to Antioch and make him your associate in the flourishing 
work there? Have you not been his backer in all his 
career? Does he not owe all his present reputation to you? 
Did not the church at Antioch expect you to be the leader 
in this expedition, even as you had been the leader in their 
church at home? Why do you tamely permit him to take 
the reins in his hands? Did you not ask me to accompany 
you with the understanding that you were to direct affairs ? 
Am I under any obligation to follow any leadership but 
yours ? I thought we two would decide matters to suit our- 
selves ; but if Paul is going to decide where we go and how 
long we stay, and we are simply to tag along wherever he 
says, and if this is going to be Taul and his company' after 
this, I get off at this station. I sail for home from this port. 
This is more than I bargained for, and I quit right here." 
Barnabas doubtless reasoned with him, but to no avail. 
Paul may have suspected that there was some family jeal- 
ousy partly responsible for Mark's decision to depart from 
them and return to Jerusalem, and it did not appeal to him 
as a good reason for quitting a missionary enterprise. He 
called it apostasy, and he resented it deeply. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 109 

(4) Still another and fourth reason may have entered into 
the final conclusion of Mark at this time. He may have been 
surprised at the tone of Paul's preaching. It was a more 
liberal type of preaching than that to which he had been 
accustomed in Jerusalem. Mark was a Hebrew of the 
Hebrews, and at Jerusalem all of the Christians were Jews, 
and they were very conscientious and very scrupulous in 
the observance of all the regulations of the Jewish law. 
They preached the necessity of these things even as they 
preached the necessity of faith in Jesus the Christ. Paul 
was not insisting upon these things. He was permitting 
Gentiles to come into the Christian Church without becom- 
ing Jews. He did not seem to have the respect for the Jew- 
ish customs which they had at Jerusalem. He was letting 
down the barriers on every side. 

Mark never had come into contact with such looseness in 
procedure. He was shocked by it. He protested to Barna- 
bas : "You ought not to allow it. What authority has Paul 
for such preaching? Do any of the other apostles preach 
like that? Have not all the leaders of the church in Jeru- 
salem insisted upon these things which he rules out? Did 
not the Master observe all of these things? Did he not say 
that he had not come to destroy the law or the prophets, 
but to fulfil them all ? Who is this Paul, then, that he should 
set up his dictum against that of the Master and of all the 
disciples of the Master and against the authority of Moses 
and of all the holy prophets of old? I tell you this is an 
innovation which they do not know about in the mother 
church in Jerusalem; for if they knew it, they would put a 
stop to it right away — you may depend upon that. I tell 
you that this is a liberalism which is most destructive in its 
tendencies. No one can tell what the outcome of such 
preaching will be. If the Gentiles accept it in large num- 
bers, it may be that the heritage will be wrested away from 
God's chosen people and all the promises of the prophets 
will be set at naught for centuries to come. I tell you if 



no THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

this is to be the style of preaching on this mission journey, 
I will have nothing more to do with it. I wash my hands 
of the whole business. I am going back to Jerusalem to tell 
the folks there all about it." 

Barnabas was troubled in his own mind about these 
things. He knew well enough that the Jewish brethren had 
one opinion on this subject, and that Paul had another. He 
knew that what Mark said was true, and that they would lay 
down the law to him when he got home again. He was not 
quite clear about this issue. What Paul said seemed plaus- 
ible, and it did seem that the success of the work among 
the Gentiles depended upon the Pauline style of preaching. 
He was willing to let things slide for the present. As long 
as matters were progressing prosperously why stir up any 
trouble ? What need was there for any rupture at the pres- 
ent time? Mark was a younger man and more thorough- 
going in his theology. He thought this was no time for 
complaisance and compromise. Paul might call him an 
apostate for leaving the missionary expedition at this point, 
if he cared to. Mark would go to Jerusalem and tell them 
that Paul was an apostate from the true faith. 

We have known some instances in our own generation 
where a young man felt called upon to purge a whole church 
of heresy and made a deal of trouble for himself and for 
others by bringing charges against the foremost thinkers 
and leaders of his day only to find himself universally dis- 
credited at last and to awaken to the perception that these 
older and better and wiser men were in possession of a 
higher truth than he had yet apprehended. Mark was 
just such a young man. It is a common experience for some 
young men in the early stage of their development to run 
amuck with the highest forces of their age, to attempt to 
stem the tide against the deeper currents of Divine Provi- 
dence, to fight with all sincerity against the stars in their 
courses. Happy is that young man who graduates early out 
of this mock-heroic stage of his existence and has his eyes 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK in 

opened to see things as they are and to repent in time his 
futile endeavor to defeat the purposes of God. 

We take it that Mark went back to Jerusalem and stirred 
up a lot of trouble there. He may have come down to 
Antioch later with certain other brethren from James and 
have helped to make the trouble for Peter and Barnabas 
and Paul which is recorded in the second chapter of the 
Epistle to the Galatians. Later, however, he must have seen 
the error of his ways. Like the church at large, he was 
convinced by the logic of events, and, when convinced and 
repentant, Paul used him again in the ministry. 

Now, if we are right in analyzing the state of Mark's mind 
at this time and in concluding that he left Barnabas and 
Paul partly because he was homesick, and partly because 
he was cowardly, and partly because he was jealous, and 
partly because he was suspicious of the Pauline preaching 
and theology, we can readily understand how Barnabas as 
the young man's relative might have been disposed to be 
lenient toward his faults and half-sympathetic with his 
opinions, while Paul, on the contrary, would have seen no 
sufficient reason for his fickleness of conduct or instabil- 
ity of character. We are not surprised, therefore, that when 
Barnabas proposed that John Mark should accompany them 
on a second missionary journey, Paul made strenuous ob- 
jection. 

Paul wrote afterward to the Corinthians that Christian 
love, ov nago^vverai, never has a paroxysm, 24 but Luke tells 
us in the book of Acts that there was a paroxysm, eyevero 
de napoijvofiog, over this question of the choice of Mark 
as an attendant, and it became so pronounced that Barnabas 
and Paul separated at this time. 25 Somebody must have 
lost his experience of perfect love for the moment at least. 
We think that it was Barnabas, and not Paul, for we are 
disposed to sympathize with Paul in his position at this 

24 1 Cor. 13. 5. 
"Acts 15. 39- 



ii2 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

crisis. We think that Paul was justified in concluding that 
Mark had shown that he was incapable of heroic enter- 
prise. He would not endure hardship like a good soldier. 
He was likely to fail in an emergency. He could not be 
trusted in such serious undertaking as they then proposed. 
He was governed by impulses rather than by principle. He 
was quick to advance and just as quick to lose heart and 
run away. 

It is Paul's attitude at this time which leads us to con- 
clude that the excuses sometimes offered for Mark in this 
juncture are not justified by the facts of the case. It has 
been suggested that the Holy Spirit had set Barnabas and 
Saul aside for this undertaking, but no such divine con- 
straint had been put upon Mark, and he therefore felt free 
to abandon the enterprise at any time. We are told that he 
may not have contemplated so long a journey when they set 
out and so long an absence from home ; and when the inva- 
sion of Asia Minor was determined upon he felt that cir- 
cumstances demanded his return. He had not agreed to 
go any farther, and he was sure that his duty led him back 
to Jerusalem rather than on any longer tour. His mother's 
health may have failed or circumstances may have compelled 
his immediate attention at home. He may have been sum- 
moned by courier and thus have been obliged to break com- 
pany with the apostles at this time. 

These things are possibilities ; but if there had been actual 
mitigating considerations, Paul would have given them due 
weight. The fact that he seems to have seen no good ex- 
cuse for Mark's desertion at this point leads us to conclude 
that it was not for any good or sufficient reason, but, rather, 
for some one or for all of the reasons we have suggested 
above. Whatever the reasons were, they seemed to Paul to 
be derogatory to Mark's character. We are disposed to 
think that Paul was right in this conclusion. 

If Paul read Mark's character correctly, Mark must have 
been vacillating and uncertain in early life. Such a character 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 113 

is not very useful for the time being; but the one good 
thing about it is that it can develop. The New 
Testament record would lead us to believe that the unprom- 
ising beginning of Mark's missionary and ministerial career 
was forgotten and forgiven in the honorable record of his 
later life. Barnabas and Peter both came to believe that 
Paul was right where they had been wrong, and Mark prob- 
ably was convinced in their convincing. He never became 
a leading character, but he did become a faithful servant. 
He attended upon Barnabas and upon Peter and finally upon 
Paul himself, and he was a help and a comfort to all of 
them. In the New Testament record he never assumes any 
large spiritual responsibilities. He always occupied a subor- 
dinate position. He may have been a business manager for 
the apostles or a teacher and catechist for their converts, 
and in this way he was prepared to found the first theolog- 
ical school in the Christian church in the later days. He 
grew in grace and enjoyed the increasing respect of his 
Christian brethren. In his old age, according to church 
tradition, he came to represent something of the authority 
of the great apostles who had died. We turn to these tradi- 
tions for some other facts and suggestions concerning him. 
4. Traditions Concerning Him. We are not sure that 
Mark had any personal connection with the Lord's ministry. 
Some have desired to establish such a connection, since he is 
one of the four evangelists, but they have not been able to 
adduce very good ground for such a conclusion. Yet it is 
possible, and we are disposed to favor the supposition. 

(1) A writer in the early part of the fourth century, in 
the Dialogue of Adamantius with the Marcionite, tells us 
that Mark was one of the seventy-two disciples sent out by 
the Master to prepare the way for his own coming. 26 

(2) Toward the close of the fourth century Epiphanius 
bears witness to the same fact and then adds that Mark was 
one of the disciples who went back and walked no more with 

M Luke 10. 1. 



ii 4 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

the Lord, after the hard sayings in the synagogue in 
Capernaum. 27 It is more than probable that Mark's apos- 
tasy at Perga is responsible for the tradition that he had 
been a backslider once before, and that he had deserted the 
Master even as he later deserted the apostle Paul. We 
trust for Mark's sake that this tradition is not true. 

(3) Alexander in the sixth century says that the aged 
had told him that Mark was the man bearing the pitcher of 
water who led the two disciples to the room prepared for 
the eating of the passover. 28 This tradition probably was 
attached to the still earlier one in the sixth century recorded 
by Theodosius, who said that the house of Mark the evan- 
gelist was the one in which the Lord ate the Last Supper 
with his disciples, and the one in which the disciples were 
gathered together after the resurrection when they re- 
ceived the baptism of Pentecost. It is, of course, a possi- 
bility that the home of Mary the mother of Mark had in 
it a large upper room which she placed at the disposal of 
the Master and of his disciples during those last days of 
his ministry, and that the Last Supper was eaten there, and 
that the disciples were assembled there when the Lord ap- 
peared to them on the evening of the first Easter day and on 
the Sunday following, and that they met there from day to 
day to wait for the promised blessing of Pentecost, and that 
it was a hallowed meeting place for praise and prayer there- 
after for the Jerusalem church. It was to that room that 
Peter made his way when released from prison, and there 
he found the assembly engaged in prayer in his behalf. It 
may be that all these great events in the history of the 
church took place inside one building and in one upper room. 
However, we might have expected the New Testament 
writers to make some mention of that fact, if it were one; 
and in their silence we cannot be sure of it on merely sixth- 
century authority. 

27 John 6. 66. Haer., li, 6. 
"Mark 14. 13. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 115 

(4) It has been suggested by still later writers that Mark 
was the young man who followed with Jesus, after the seiz- 
ure in the garden of Gethsemane, of whom we read that he 
had only a linen cloth cast about him, over his naked body : 
and that when they laid hold upon him he left the linen 
cloth and fled naked. 29 Mark is the only one who records 
this rather trivial incident, and no very good reason can be 
assigned for his introducing it into his brief narrative, unless 
it may be that he had some personal interest in it. If he 
himself were this young man, he might have inserted the 
story as a kind of personal autograph, as much as to say: 
"I know something about these things from personal expe- 
rience. At this point I myself enter into touch with them." 
This again is not impossible, and we may even grant that 
it is probable to some extent. 

Lange, Olshausen, Thomson, Luckock, and others are 
ready to identify this young man with Mark. Zahn says : 
"He paints a small picture of himself in the corner of his 
work which contains so many figures. What he narrates 
of himself is no heroic deed, but only a thoughtless action of 
his youth." 30 Mark had gone to bed in his own home on 
that night of the Last Supper, and when Jesus and the dis- 
ciples left the house he was moved by curiosity or anxiety 
to follow them, and without waiting to dress he had thrown 
this linen cloth about him and had crept forth to see what 
was to happen. It was a night of great adventure for the 
boy, and with the boy's facility for being on hand when any 
excitement occurred he saw the arrest of Jesus and was so 
near the soldiers that one of them snatched at him and was 
left with the linen cloth in his hand while the lad scurried 
away. It was not a very important matter to anyone except 
himself. In later years he may have taken the opportunity 
of chronicling it, to show that he had a small part in the 
great events of that night. 

29 Mark 14. 51, 52. 

30 Zahn, Introduction to the New Testament, vol. ii, p. 494. 



n6 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

(5) We learn from Eusebius, Epiphanius, Jerome, Ni- 
cephorus, and others that Peter sent Mark as his substitute 
from Rome to Egypt and that Mark founded the catechetical 
school at Alexandria in Egypt 31 which may claim to be the 
first theological school of the Christian church and which 
had a most notable succession of masters in Pantsenus, 
Clement, Origen, and Dionysius; and Athanasius came 
later. Mark became the first bishop of the church in Alex- 
andria and he was martyred there at the feast of Serapis, 
A. D. 68. W. F. Warren thus describes the martyrdom: 
"On the feast day of Serapis, tutelar deity of Alexandria, 
the holy evangelist, then laboring in that city, fell into the 
hands of the maddened heathen. They tied his feet to a 
chariot, and dragged him through the streets and down to 
the seashore, dragged him the livelong day over hot sands 
and stony banks, everywhere marking their track with 
shreds of flesh and a lengthening trail of blood. Ex- 
hausted at last, and marvelling that their victim died not, 
they cast him into a dungeon for the night. On the next 
morning they found him wondrously refreshed and quick- 
ened by two visions of glory, which had been vouchsafed to 
him during the darkness. Again they bound him to the 
chariot, and dragged his mangled form till God in mercy 
granted him in death a happy deliverance. History tells 
us that a little more than three centuries from that day 
the colossal image of Serapis was dragged, mutilated and 
dishonored, through those same streets of Alexandria, and 
Mark proclaimed the patron saint of the city. The proud 
temple of the idol — one of the grandest in the whole world 
— was demolished while fanes sacred to Mark began to rise 
throughout the earth." 32 

If Mark died such a martyr death, he surely made suffi- 
cient atonement for all the weakness of his early youth. 

81 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., ii, 16. Epiphanius, Haer., li, 6. Jerome, 
De vir. illus., 8. Nicephorus, Hist. Eccles., ii, 42. 

82 Compare Nicephorus, Hist. Eccl., ii, 43. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 117 

He had attained unto the heroic mold at last. He was a 
worthy successor to Peter and Paul, as they had worthily 
succeeded their martyred Lord. 

(6) Early in the ninth century Mark's body is said to have 
been removed from Egypt to Venice. On the Piazza of 
Saint Mark the Venetians built a stately five-domed cathe- 
dral. They called it the Cathedral of Saint Mark and there 
his bones are interred, and he is the patron saint of the city 
of Venice to this day. 

Ruskin thus describes the interior of Saint Mark's in 
Venice: "It is lost in still deeper twilight, to which the eye 
must become accustomed for some moments before the form 
of the building can be traced; and then there opens before 
us a vast cave, hewn out into the form of a cross, and di- 
vided into shadowy aisles by many pillars. Round the 
domes of its roof the light enters only through narrow 
apertures like large stars ; and here and there a ray or two 
from some far-away casement wanders into the darkness, 
and casts a narrow phosphoric stream upon the waves of 
marble that heave and fall in a thousand colors along the 
floor. What else there is of light, is from torches, or silver 
lamps, burning ceaselessly in the recesses of the chapels; the 
roof sheeted with gold, and the polished walls covered with 
alabaster, give back, at every curve and angle, some feeble 
gleaming to the flames ; and the glories round the heads of 
the sculptured saints flash out upon us as we pass them, 
and sink again into the gloom. 

"Under foot and overhead, a continual succession of 
crowded imagery, one picture passing into another, as in a 
dream; the passions and pleasures of human life symbol- 
ized together, and the mystery of its redemption; for the 
mazes of interwoven lines and changeful pictures lead al- 
ways at last to the cross, lifted and carved in every place 
and upon every stone; sometimes with the serpent of eter- 
nity wrapt round it, sometimes with doves beneath its arms, 
and sweet herbage growing forth from its feet; but con- 



n8 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

spicuous most of all on the great rood that crosses the 
church before the altar, raised in bright blazonry against 
the shadow of the apse. . . . It is the cross that is first 
seen, and always, burning in the center of the temple; and 
every dome and hollow of its roof has the figure of Christ 
in the utmost height of it, raised in power, or returning in 
judgment. . . . 

"Darkness and mystery; confused recesses of building; 
artificial light employed in small quantity, but maintained 
with a constancy which seems to give it a kind of sacred- 
ness; preciousness of material easily comprehended by the 
vulgar eye; close air loaded with a sweet and peculiar odor 
associated only with religious services; solemn music, and 
tangible idols or images having popular legends attached to 
them — these are assembled in Saint Mark's to a degree, as 
far as I know, unexampled in any other European 
church. . . . 

"Nor is this interior without effect on the minds of the 
people. At every hour of the day there are groups collected 
before the various shrines, and solitary worshipers scattered 
through the darker places of the church, evidently in prayer 
both deep and reverent, and, for the most part, profoundly 
sorrowful. The devotees at the greater number of the re- 
nowned shrines of Romanism may be seen murmuring their 
appointed prayers with wandering eyes and unengaged 
gestures ; but the step of the stranger does not disturb those 
who kneel on the pavement of Saint Mark's; and hardly a 
moment passes, from early morning to sunset, in which we 
may not see some half-veiled figure enter beneath the 
Arabian porch, cast itself into long abasement on the floor 
of the temple, and then rising slowly with more confirmed 
step, and with a passionate kiss and clasp of the arms given 
to the feet of the crucifix, by which the lamps burn always 
in the northern aisle, leave the church, as if comforted." 33 



Stones of Venice, II, iv, pp. 18, 19, 20. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 119 

The Cathedral of Saint Mark's is a worthy monument to 
the evangelist. The Venetians consider the lion to be 
Mark's symbol, and it may have been an appropriate symbol 
for his later life. He died, one of the heroes of the faith ; 
but the Mark of the New Testament books was first of all 
a calf and then an ox in patient ministry ; and we think that 
the ox is the most appropriate symbol for the Gospel he has 
written. Matthew pictured Jesus as the Lion of Judah and 
the King of Israel; Mark pictures him rather as the ox 
treading the furrow of his appointed task, the Servant of all, 
busied in ceaseless ministry. 

We now have followed Mark from his callow youth to his 
mellow old age, and we have found his character changing 
for the better all along the line. He was hot-hearted and 
wrong-headed in the beginning, but his conduct cooled down 
and his creed cleared up in time. It is to Mark's credit that 
he could work at last in harmony with such opposite char- 
acters as Peter and Paul. It is to his credit that he gave a 
lifetime of effort to the furtherance of the Christian cause. 
It is to his everlasting credit that he wrote the earliest and 
most authentic narrative of the gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. It is to the traditions concerning the writing of that 
Gospel that we turn next. 

II. Traditions as to the Writing of the Gospel 

1. Papias was bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia in the first 
half of the second century. Eusebius in his Church History 
has quoted the tradition which Papias gives in regard to 
Mark, the author of the Gospel, in the following words; 
"Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down 
accurately, though not indeed in order, whatsoever he re- 
membered of the things said or done by Christ. For he 
neither heard the Lord nor followed him, but afterward, as 
I said, he followed Peter, who adapted his teaching to the 
needs of his hearers, but with no intention of giving a con- 



120 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

nected account of the Lord's discourses, so that Mark com- 
mitted no error while he thus wrote some things as he re- 
membered them. For he was careful of one thing, not to 
omit any of the things which he had heard, and not to state 
any of them falsely." 34 This is the earliest statement in 
church literature concerning the writing of our second 
Gospel. There are three things to be noted in it : first, that 
Mark was not an eyewitness of these things which he 
records; second, that he simply reports the preaching of 
Peter concerning them ; and, third, that Papias has all con- 
fidence in the accuracy of the report. Of these three facts 
the most important is that the authority of Peter is placed 
behind the narrative of the second Gospel. This seems to 
have been the universal belief in the early church. 

2. Justin Martyr, about the middle of the second century, 
quotes the statement found only in Mark 3. 17 as from 
"Peter's Memoirs." 35 If this name is rightly given to the 
second Gospel, it ought to be called "The Gospel according 
to Peter as recorded by Mark." Mark is only the scribe, 
and Peter is the responsible authority. This was the con- 
clusion of Tertullian, as we shall see later, and it is repre- 
sented among modern writers by Paul Ewald, who thinks 
that Mark's contribution was confined to arrangement of 
the material and nothing more, and who says that a modern 
writer would have formulated the title somewhat as follows, 
"Favorite reminiscences of Peter's, from the time when he 
himself companied with Jesus in Galilee and on the way to 
Jerusalem, put together in some scenes and edited by 
Mark." 36 On the other hand, that the early church believed 
that Mark was the responsible author of the book is evi- 
denced by the superscription given it in all our codices. It 
never is Kara Jlerpov, "according to Peter," but always 
Kara Mdp/cov, "according to Mark." Peter may be the 

84 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., iii, 39. 

» 5 Dial. 106. 

"Ewald, Das Hauptproblem der Evangelienfrage, p. 26. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 121 

"literary grandfather" 37 of the second Gospel, but he is not 
the father nor direct literary author of it. That responsi- 
bility belongs to Mark. 

3. Clement of Alexandria, at the end of the second cen- 
tury, as reported by Eusebius in his Church History, says : 
"The Gospel according to Mark had this occasion. As 
Peter had preached the word publicly at Rome, and declared 
the gospel by the Spirit, many who were present requested 
that Mark, who had followed him for a long time and re- 
membered his sayings, should write them out. And having 
composed the Gospel, he gave it to those who had requested 
it. When Peter learned of this, he neither directly forbade 
nor encouraged it." 38 It would seem from this account 
that the- second Gospel was written at Rome, and that its 
composition was begun, if not finished, during Peter's life 
and ministry there. 

4. Irenaeus of Gaul, writing about the same date, says 
that Matthew wrote his Gospel while Peter and Paul were 
preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the 
Church; and then he adds, "After their departure, Mark, 
the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to 
us in writing what had been preached by Peter." 39 Irenaeus 
agrees with the other church Fathers in making the Gospel 
the record of the preaching of Peter, but he differs with 
Clement in placing the composition of the Gospel after 
Peter's death, if by the apostles' departure he means their 
death. 

5. Tertullian says that the Gospel "which Mark pub- 
lished may be affirmed to be Peter's, whose interpreter 
Mark was." 40 

6. Origen, as reported by Eusebius, says, "I have learned 



57 Morison, Commentary, p. xxviii. 
* Eusebius, op. cit., vi, 14. 
M Adv. Haer.. iii, 1. 
40 Adv. Marc, iv. 5. 



122 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

by tradition that the second Gospel is by Mark, who com- 
posed it according to the instructions of Peter, who in his 
catholic epistle acknowledges him as a son." 41 

7. Eusebius on his own account declares : "So greatly did 
the splendor of piety illumine the minds of Peter's hearers 
that they were not satisfied with hearing once only, and were 
not content with the unwritten teaching of the divine gos- 
pel, but with all sorts of entreaties they besought Mark, a 
follower of Peter, and the one whose Gospel is extant, 
that he would leave them a written monument of the doc- 
trine which had been orally communicated to them. Nor did 
they cease until they had prevailed with the man, and had 
thus become the occasion of the written Gospel which bears 
the name of Mark. And they say that Peter, when he had 
learned, through a revelation of the Spirit, of that which 
had been done, was pleased with the zeal of the men, and 
that the work obtained the sanction of his authority for the 
purpose of being used in the churches." 42 

All of these early authorities agree that Mark simply 
represents Peter in his writing. The Christian Church has 
held very generally to this opinion. In Christian art, repre- 
sented by such paintings as those of Angelico da Fiesole in 
the Gallery of Florence and of Bellini in the Academy of 
Venice and of Bonvicino in the Brera at Milan, Mark is 
the scribe taking notes while Peter is preaching in the public 
assembly or writing to Peter's dictation in the seclusion of 
some private room. The impression made by the book as 
we read it to-day corresponds to the facts handed down by 
tradition; for, as Archdeacon Allen says: "Mark, with its 
incompleteness, its presupposition of knowledge on the part 
of its readers, its unevenness, its want of historical setting, 
is unique in literature. It is not a history, not a biography, 
not a memoir. It is intended not to inform, but to remind. 



41 Eusebius, op. cit., vi, 25. 
"Eusebius, op. cit., ii, 15. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 123 

Those who read it will read what they have heard before." 43 
We can easily believe that the first readers of this book 
would be reminded of Peter at every turn. 

There seems to be some difference of opinion among the 
church Fathers, however, as to the time of Mark's writing, 
whether it took place during Peter's lifetime or after his 
death. It may be that the explanation of this difference lies 
in the fact that Mark began his work while Peter was liv- 
ing and that Peter gave his sanction to the notes which 
Mark had then made, but that the Gospel in its present form 
was published only after Peter's death. If this be true, it 
would be difficult to give an exact date for the composition 
or the publication of the Gospel. It is possible that Mark 
himself would have been puzzled to do it. Some time be- 
tween A. D. 60 and 70 it is possible that the work was begun 
and revised and completed. The more exact determination 
of the date would depend somewhat upon the relation be- 
lieved to exist between the second Gospel and the other 
synoptics. If Mark is dependent upon them, it must be 
assigned to a later date. If they are dependent upon Mark, 
its date must, of course, be earlier than these. 

8. Augustine 44 takes the position that the Gospel accord- 
ing to Mark is simply an epitome or summary of the Gospel 
according to Matthew. Augustine's great influence in the 
church led to the general adoption of this opinion that 
Mark simply had abbreviated the contents of Matthew, and 
consequently Mark was held in comparatively light esteem 
for many centuries. Speaking of Augustine's dictum, 
Maclean says : "Seldom has one short sentence had such an 
unfortunate effect in distorting a judgment on a literary 
work; and largely in consequence of it Mark has been gen- 
erally neglected. The second Gospel seems hardly to have 
engaged the attention of commentators; and the writer 
known as Victor of Antioch, in the fifth century or later, 

48 Expository Times, vol. xi, p. 425. 
" De Consensu Evangelistorum, i, 3. 



I2 4 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

says that he has not been able to find a single author who 
had expounded it." 45 

Maclean begins his discussion of the Gospel with the 
sentence, "No book of the New Testament has experienced 
such a change in public estimation as the second Gospel." 
That means that the opinion of Augustine has been reversed 
at last, and that the Gospel according to Mark has come to 
the place of first honor among the Gospels as the earliest 
and most authentic of them all. Augustine's opinion has 
been represented among more modern scholars by Griesbach, 
Fritzsche, Bleek, Baur, De Wette, Delitzsch, Kostlin, 
Kahnis, and others. The present tendency, however, is 
toward the recognition of the independence and the priority 
of Mark. The following authorities may be quoted as 
representatives of this view: Bruno Bauer, Ewald, Gould, 
Hitzig, Holtzmann, Lachmann, Maclean, Meyer, Reuss, 
Salmon, Salmond, Schenkel, Scholten, Storr, Ritschl, 
Thiersch, Volkmar, Weiss, Weisse, Weizsacker, Wilke, 
Wright. 46 These men stand for very different schools of 
thought; but they all agree that in the second Gospel we 
have the primitive account of the life and labors of the Lord. 
We are ready to agree with them, and to conclude that this 
Gospel was written at Rome, as Irenseus, Clement of Alex- 
andria, Eusebius, Jerome, and Epiphanius have testified; 
and at some time between 60 and 70 A. D. Archdeacon 
Allen is ready to say, "I think it probable that critical opin- 
ion will shortly move in the direction of, say, 50 A. D., or 
shortly before, for the publication of a Greek Second 
Gospel." 47 

46 Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, vol. ii, p. 122. 

*° Wright says, "Saint Mark's is the archaic Gospel. . . . It is 
simple where the others are complex; it is meager where they are 
rich ; it is a chronicle while they are histories ; it contains Latin and 
Aramaic words which they have translated or removed. . . . 
Augustine, therefore, is wrong in every particular." — Dictionary of 
Christ and the Gospels, vol. ii, p. 85. 

" Expository Times, vol. xxi, p. 444. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 125 

III. Characterizations of the Gospel 

I. This is The Gospel for the Latin Peoples. 

If we are correct in following the church tradition as to 
the place of writing, it would seem to follow as a matter of 
course that a Gospel written at Rome would have especial 
reference to the circumstances and the needs of the people 
in that city and of that race. The internal evidence points 
in the same direction. The Gospel according to Matthew 
evidently was prepared especially for the Jews. That this 
is not true of the Gospel according to Mark seems clear for 
the following reasons : 

(1) Mark omits all Hebrew genealogies. They would 
not be of interest to the Romans as they were to the Jews. 
Mark has nothing to say about the birth or the parentage of 
Jesus. He does not mention Joseph anywhere, and Mary's 
name occurs only once, in the question, "Is not this the 
carpenter, the son of Mary?" 48 

(2) There is no insistence upon the binding obligation of 
the Jewish law in this Gospel. The word "law" does not 
occur in the whole Gospel. It is found in Matthew eight 
times, and in Luke nine times, and in John fifteen times. It 
is a strange fact that Mark never uses the word. 

(3) There are fewer references to the Old Testament in 
the second Gospel than in any of the other three. Only one 
such reference is peculiar to Mark, the one with which he 
begins ; and that, according to our text, is wrongly ascribed 
to Isaiah. It is really from Mai. 3. 1, and Mark inserts it 
before the quotation from Isa. 40. 3, which is found in the 
other Synoptics. It is the only passage in which Mark 
quotes an author by name, and in this single venture into the 
Old Testament field on his own account he makes a mistake 
in the name. 

(4) Mark translates certain Aramaic words which he 
has preserved in his Gospel, as if he were sure that those 

48 Mark 6. 3. 



126 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

for whom he was writing would not understand them ; such 
as "Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder," 49 and "Tal- 
itha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto 
thee, Arise;" 50 and "Corban, that is to say, Given;" 51 and 
"Ephphatha, that is, Be opened;" 52 and "The son of 
Timseus, Bartimaeus ;" 53 and "Abba, Father ;" 54 and "Gol- 
gotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull ;" 55 
and "Eloi, Eloi, lama, sabachthani? which is, being inter- 
preted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 56 

(5) In the same way Mark explains Jewish customs as 
he would not think of doing if, like Matthew, he had been 
writing to Jews ; as, for example, in the parenthesis found 
in 7. 3, 4, "The Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they 
wash their hands diligently, eat not, holding the tradition of 
the elders; and when they come from the market place, 
except they wash themselves, they eat not; and many other 
things there be, which they have received to hold, wash- 
ings oi cups, and pots, and brasen vessels." Again, in 
12. 18 Mark explains the creed of the Sadducees, and 
in 2. 18, he says that the disciples of John and of the Phari- 
sees used to fast, and in 14. 12 and 15. 6, 42 Mark adds such 
explanations of the passover observances as he thinks those 
who were not Jews might need. He thinks it necessary to 
say that the Jordan is the river of Jordan 57 and that the 
Mount of Olives is over against the temple. 58 

Evidently, he is not writing to Jews. Is there anything 
which will help us to determine more explicitly for whom 
Mark has composed this Gospel? We think that we can 
add to the negative considerations which we have now 
adduced several positive indications which point directly 
toward Rome. 



* 9 Mark 3. 17. u Mark 14. 36. 

60 Mark 5. 41. B5 Mark 15. 22. 

"Mark 7. II. "Mark 15. 34. 

62 Mark 7. 34. " Mark I. 5. 

63 Mark 10. 46. M Mark 13. 3. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 127 

(6) Mark's name is in itself a suggestion of Roman asso- 
ciations. We already have seen that his original name was 
the Hebrew name "John," and that this name fell into disuse 
in the Christian Church and was replaced by the Roman 
name "Marcus." It may have been that this Roman name 
took the place of his Hebrew name because he himself had 
ceased to be associated in thought with Jerusalem and had 
come to be identified with Rome. 

(7) There is a curious collocation of names in Mark 
15. 21. There we are told that Simon of Cyrene, who 
was compelled to bear the cross to Golgotha, was "the 
father of Alexander and Rufus." Godet says : "This in- 
dication evidently presupposes that the two sons of Simon 
were persons well known to, and of consideration in, the 
church for which the author was writing; there is no 
similar instance in the other Gospels. If, then, we can 
ascertain where these men lived, we shall know the place 
from which the author wrote. The Epistle to the Ro- 
mans here comes to our aid. 'Salute,' says Paul to the 
church in Rome, 'Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother 
and mine,' Rom. 16. 13. The family of Simon had therefore 
migrated to Rome. Paul, who had known them in the East, 
sends his greeting to them in that city. And the author of 
our second Gospel, having the surviving members of the 
family before his eyes at the time he was writing, felt con- 
strained to do honor to the unique part which its head had 
played in the drama of the cross. These indications seem to 
me clear enough." 59 Rufus is mentioned in the New 
Testament in these two passages alone. Simon is said to be 
the father of Rufus, and we learn that a Rufus was a 
prominent member of the church at Rome. If we identify 
these two Rufuses as one and the same man, we can readily 
see how Mark, writing for the Roman church, would men- 
tion the relationship between Simon and Rufus, an item of 



New Testament Studies, p. 29. 



128 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

information which would be of interest to that church espe- 
cially, if not to that church alone. 

(8) There are more Latinisms in this Gospel than in any 
other book of the New Testament. There are some found 
in Mark which occur in one or more of the other Gospels, 
such as modius, 4. 21; legio, 5. 9, 15; denarius, 6. 37; 
12. 15; 14. 5; census, 12. 14; quadrans, 12. 42; flagello, 
15. 15; and prcetorium, 15. 16. Some others are found in 
Mark alone, such as speculator, 6. 27; sextarius, 7. 4, 8; 
and centurio, 15. 39, 44, 45. This makes a list of ten words 
of Latin origin found in this short book. There are some 
distinctive Latin idioms in the Gospel, such as "to give 
counsel," consilium dare, and "to be in the last extremity," 
in extremis esse. 60 Mark translates his account into Roman 
expressions more than once, as when he says that the poor 
widow cast in two mites which make (in the Roman coin- 
age) a quadrans, 12. 42 ; or, again, when he tells us that the 
soldiers led Jesus away within the court, which is (called 
by you Romans) the Praetorium, 15. 16. 

All of these things are indications that Mark was writing 
in a Roman environment, and if they are not in themselves 
sufficient to prove that fact, they are sufficient to confirm 
and establish the unanimous tradition of the early church to 
that effect. We find that the Gospel itself bears wit- 
ness to the same truth which the church Fathers had stated, 
namely, that the Gospel according to Mark is a Gospel 
written especially for the Latin race. As such, it makes its 
appeal to those elements in the life of Jesus which would 
be most attractive to the practical Roman mind. Riggen- 
bach has noticed one illustration of this truth when he said, 
"As the interpreter of the Apostle of action, Mark de- 
scribes the Son of God in the power of His actions to the 
Romans who are the people of action." 61 We turn next to 
some of the proofs of this statement. 

80 Credner, Einleitung, p. 104. 
91 Leben Jesu, ii. 50. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 129 

2. This is The Gospel of the Strenuous Life. 

This Gospel pictures Jesus as the tireless worker through 
days of almost incredible toil. Mark alone has recorded the 
fact that twice in his ministry neither Jesus nor those who 
were working with him had even time to eat. 62 Something 
is happening all the time in this narrative. Mark helps us to 
see that Jesus was doing things as well as saying things. He 
is a doer of deeds as well as a teacher of truth. The first 
Gospel is filled with discourses, the second Gospel is filled 
with strenuous performances. The Gospel of instruction is 
followed by the Gospel of action. The Gospel according to 
Matthew was filled with parables and preaching ; the Gospel 
according to Mark is filled with miracles and active min- 
istry. Farrar says: "Swift and incisive, Mark's narrative 
proceeds straight to the goal like a Roman soldier on his 
march to battle. In reading this Gospel, carried away by 
the breathless narrative, we feel like the apostles who among 
the press of the people coming and going had no leisure so 
much as to eat. Event after event comes upon us in his 
pages with the impetuous sequence of the waves in a rising 
tide/' 63 

The Gospel has no introduction, beyond the mere phrase, 
''The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of 
God." Then straightway Mark hastens into the midst of 
things, festinat in medias res, as Horace says of Homer. 
The Gospel has no conclusion, in the text which has been 
preserved to our day. It breaks off as abruptly as it began, 
at the close of 16. 8. Some one else has written a conclusion 
and appended it to the narrative of Mark at that point. 
The story is a hurried one throughout. It is like the typical 
romance in a modern story paper in that respect. There is 
something new and startling in every chapter and almost in 
every paragraph, and at the most exciting point the narra- 
tive abruptly stops, and we look for the familiar legend "To 

"Mark 3. 20; 6. 31. 
"Messages of the Books, p. 59. 



130 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

be continued in our next." Archbishop Thomson says that 
in this Gospel "the wonder-working Son of God sweeps over 
his kingdom swiftly and meteorlike." 64 

The characteristic word in this Gospel is the Greek word 
evdvc;, "straightway." Twice in the Gospel it is repeated 
three times in three consecutive verses. It occurs forty- 
two times in Mark, only seven times in the much longer 
Gospel according to Matthew, only three times in John, and 
only once in the Gospel according to Luke, and only once in 
the book of Acts. Dr. DaCosta compared this Gospel to 
Caesar's Commentaries and Mark's svdvg to Caesar's celeriter. 
The Authorized Version used seven words to translate 
Mark's one word evdvg in different passages, "immediately, 
anon, forthwith, by and by, as soon as, straightway, shortly." 
The Revised Version has rightly used one word through- 
out. 65 

This narrative is like a panorama in rapid motion. We see 
one picture and straightway another takes its place, and then 
another and another, until we might think that the Master's 
life was rilled with ceaseless and incredible activity. It is 
the Gospel of the strenuous life. It deals with only the 
most active portion of the Lord's ministry and with the 
crowded events of the closing week. It could be sum- 
marized in the two words used by Peter in his sermon to 
Cornelius and his household, when he said concerning 
Jesus, dtfjkdev evepyertiv; and we might paraphrase those two 
words as follows, "He went through his whole life, straight 
as an arrow to its mark, with astonishing rapidity, scatter- 
ing the largess of his good deeds with lavish hand and 
with ceaseless activity and with boundless benevolence all 
along the way. He went through the land and he went 
through life, doing good all the time." 66 



64 Speaker's Commentary, vol. i, p. xxxv. 

85 Notice its recurrence eleven times in the first chapter : I. 10, 



12, 1 8, 20, 21, 23, 28, 29, 30, 42, 43 
86 Acts 10. 38. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 131 

However, Mark would not have us believe that the Master 
had no need of rest and recuperation in the swirl of his 
ministerial activity. Mark emphasizes that need more fully 
than any other of the evangelists. 

3. This is The Gospel of Repeated Retirements from ac- 
tive and public life. 

"It is an interesting feature to which Dr. Lange first has 
directed attention, that Mark lays emphasis on the periods 
of pause and rest which rhythmically intervene between the 
several great victories achieved by Christ. He came out 
from his obscure abode in Nazareth ; each fresh advance in 
his public life is preceded by a retirement, and each retire- 
ment is followed by a new and greater victory. The contrast 
between the contemplative rest and the vigorous action is 
striking and explains the overpowering effect by revealing 
its secret spring in the communion with God and with him- 
self. Thus we have after his baptism a retirement to the 
wilderness in Judaea before he preached in Galilee, 1. 12; a 
retirement to the ship, 3. 7; to the desert on the eastern 
shore of the lake of Galilee, 6. 31 ; to a mountain, 6. 46; to 
the border land of Tyre and Sidon, 7. 24; to Decapolis, 7. 
31 ; to a high mountain, 9. 2; to Bethany, 11. 1 ; to Geth- 
semane, 14. 34; his rest in the grave before the resurrection, 
and his withdrawal from the world and his reappearance in 
the victories of the gospel preached by his disciples. The 
ascension of the Lord forms his last withdrawal, which is to 
be followed by his final onset and absolute victory." 67 

If Mark shows Jesus living the strenuous life to the last 
degree, he shows him sensible enough to take frequent 
respites or vacations. Jesus fled publicity. He feared 
the overstrain. The healing ministry taxed his strength. 
Virtue went out of him in his constant contact with the 
sick and the suffering; and after a steady siege of it for 
hours and days he was physically weakened and mentally 
barren and spiritually exhausted. Constant association with 

67 Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. i, p. 635. 



132 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

the sick and the constant sight of the deformed and the 
mutilated told upon his nervous system at last. The teach- 
ing ministry was only less taxing than the other. Heart and 
brain were wholly engaged in the work, and he came again 
and again to the verge of nervous collapse. He was so 
weary sometimes that in the very first moment of quiet he 
had he fell into the very depths of sleep, and he slept so 
soundly that the tempest's fury did not waken him. He 
was so weary sometimes that he fled secretly to escape the 
further strain. When all the city was gathered at his door 
at sunset, he got up the next morning before sunrise and 
departed into a desert place. 68 When the cities were mak- 
ing him notorious he remained "without in desert places." 69 
He liked to be alone some of the time. He liked to take his 
disciples apart by themselves. 70 When the people sought him 
most, he sought solitude most earnestly. 

Is this the Gospel of the strenuous life? It is; and 
nevertheless in this Gospel Jesus seems almost constantly 
to be getting away, withdrawing to desert places, to Tyre 
and Sidon, to Caesarea Philippi, to Bethany, to heaven. 
He longs to go apart with his disciples and with his God. 
He retires sometimes to escape from his foes. 71 He retires 
sometimes to escape from his friends. 72 He retires some- 
times to escape to his God, to refresh his soul in prayer and 
communion with the Father before attempting any further 
work. 73 He constantly was recruiting his exhausted powers. 
He constantly was guarding against danger from enemies 
and from overwork. His strenuous life was made possible 
by his frequent withdrawals for recuperation and rest. It 
was after these withdrawals that he was most efficient again. 



68 Mark I. 35. 

68 Mark 1. 45. 

70 Mark 6. 31 ; 9. 2. 

"Mark 6. 6; 6. 30; 7. 24; 11. 19. 

"Mark 1. 35; 11. 11. 

"Mark 1. 35. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 133 

Each retirement only made ready for renewed wonders of 
healing and teaching power. 

Does Mark crowd these wonders upon us, and fill his 
pages with them ? He does ; and at the same time he tells us 
of eight occasions in the space of nine chapters when Jesus 
sought the solitudes that he might meditate and rest and pray 
in peace. Jesus lived the strenuous life, but he lived it 
sanely and well. He did not allow himself to be worn to 
a frazzle. He would have considered it a sin against his 
body, which was a temple of the Holy Spirit, and against 
his nerves, which must be kept always fit for sympathetic 
and sufficient ministry, and against his brain, which could 
be a flawless channel for divine truth only as it maintained 
its perfect condition. The Perfect Man probably had a per- 
fect physique, and he took care of it to the best of his ability, 
as any Perfect Servant of God and of man must do. 

He was ready to sacrifice his strength and his sleep, his 
leisure and even his food to meet the demands of pressing 
need; but when he came to the point where he knew that 
for effective future ministry the present strenuous ministry 
must stop for a while, he got away from that place, he fled 
to the desert solitude or to the mountaintop, he withdrew 
until his mind was at rest and his nerves had righted again 
and his physical strength was restored. Sleep and prayer 
would set him straight in a little while. Sometimes he 
seemed to prefer prayer to sleep, and he prayed all the 
night through. Sometimes doubtless he preferred sleep 
to prayer, and sleep did for him what prayer could not have 
done. In communion with nature, in communion with God, 
in communion with his own soul, in communion with the dis- 
ciple band Jesus maintained his spiritual equanimity always, 
and his physical and mental and nervous powers speedily 
returned to normal control. The Gospel of the Strenuous 
Life is just as clearly the Gospel of Rest and Recreation. 

4. This is The Gospel of Vivid Description. 

"Ewald characterizes Mark's style as the Schmelz der 



i 3 4 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

frischen Blume, as the voile, reine Leben der stoffe, Kahnis 
as drastisch and frappant, Meyer as malerisch anschaulich. 
Lange speaks of the enthusiasm and vividness of realization 
which accounts for the brevity, rapidity, and somewhat 
dramatic tone of the narrative, and the introduction of de- 
tails which give life to the scene." 74 Mark was the D wight 
L. Moody of the apostolic age. He was simple and direct in 
his style. He was radical and forcible in all he had to say. 
Always brief and to the point, he was full of blunt speech 
for the ordinary, practical man. Like Bengel, he had the 
faculty of compressing a deal of matter into small space. 
He usually packs his thought into briefest compass. There 
is very little of logic and less of philosophy in the second 
Gospel. It is a record of impressions and of emotions such 
as Peter would be likely to experience and to remember, 
and such as Mark, who seems to have been much like Peter 
in his personal character, would most appreciate, and such 
as would appeal most forcibly to the practical Roman mind. 

Mark is a most effective story-teller. We see the things 
he talks about. They impress us more sharply and they 
seem to have more definite outlines than the corresponding 
passages in the other evangelists. Mark is the first of the 
realists, using that word in its best sense. We feel that he 
is telling us things just as they are, without toning them 
down or touching them up in the least degree. When he 
differs with the other synoptics we feel that he is truer to 
life than they are. There is no reticence or reservation in 
his account. He speaks out the blunt truth of the matter, 
and for that reason we value him most. 

Some think that John has given us a life of Christ colored 
somewhat in its picturing by metaphysical and philosophical 
postulates. Some think that Matthew's life of Christ is 
dominated more or less with Jewish and dogmatic interests, 
and that his material is manipulated more or less in order 



74 Schaff, op cit., p. 636. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 135 

to prove clearly that Jesus was the true and only Messiah. 
Some think that Luke's life of Christ has the universal- 
istic outlook of the Pauline theology, and that it is built 
up on the Pauline presuppositions. Mark has given us not 
a metaphysical nor Messianic nor theological Christ, but the 
historical Jesus, the real Jesus. It is for that reason that 
we call Mark the first of the realists in Christian literature. 
He gives us a realistic picture of the events of the Gospel 
history. His narratives have the accuracy of photographic 
reproductions. They stand out before us, clear in every 
detail. 

Hippolytus calls Mark "Mark the stump-fingered, 
Mdp«oc 6 KokopoddnTvhos." Zahn says, "It is possible that 
KoXofioddKTvXog was originally applied as an epithet to Mark 
because of a congenital shortness of the fingers or a finger, 
which was noticeable" 75 to all ; but Tregelles and others 
think that that name was given to Mark because he was a 
deserter. When a soldier cut off his thumb or otherwise 
mutilated his hand to escape from military service, he be- 
came stump-fingered and at the same time a coward and 
poltroon. Mark deserved the name because he deserted 
Barnabas and Paul. There was a late legend found in the 
preface to the Vulgate and other Latin editions of the Gos- 
pels which said that Mark had literally mutilated himself in 
order to escape the responsibilities of the priesthood. We 
already have suggested that Mark may have had a personal 
deformity, which may have been caused by an accident with 
a heavy hammer, and that that would account for both of 
the names, "Mark the Hammer" and "Mark the Stump- 
fingered." We mention this title at the present point be- 
cause Keim has thought that it referred not to any actual 
deformity but only to the cropped and curtailed character 
of Mark's style. The second Gospel is brief; its speech is 
blunt. There is nothing subdued or restrained about it. 



75 Zahn, Introduction to the New Testament, p. 446. 



136 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

That adds to its impressiveness. We rather think that the 
title found in Hippolytus preserves a tradition concerning 
a real fact. We question whether it has anything to do with 
Mark's style. 

We note some of the particular characteristics of the 
second Gospel which help to make it the Gospel of Vivid 
Description. 

(i) Mark usually prefers the present tense, and he repre- 
sents the action as taking place before us. Matthew in the 
parallel accounts changes the tenses again and again from 
the present into the past. Compare i. 40 with Matt. 8. 2, 
and 14. 43 with Matt. 26. 47. There are one hundred and 
fifty-one historic presents in Mark, and of these Matthew 
retains only twenty-one. 

(2) Mark has the imperfect tense two hundred and eigh- 
teen times, and Matthew avoids this tense in his parallels 
by omission and by paraphrase one hundred and eighty- 
seven times, and thirty-one times he changes it outright into 
the aorist. 

(3) Mark delights to note the beginning of an action 
and he uses the verb rjpiaro twenty-six times : he began to 
teach, he began to preach, he began to speak, he began to 
rebuke, he began to cry aloud, and so on, 1. 45 ; 4. 1 ; 10. 28; 
10. 41 ; 10. 47. The disciples began to make a way through 
the field when the Pharisees objected, 2. 23. In only six 
of these cases does Matthew retain the verb to begin. 

(4) Mark seems to have a liking for diminutives. He 
uses the Greek terms for little daughter, little dog, little 
ear, little child, little boat, little fish, where the other evan- 
gelists do not have the diminutive. 

(5) Mark is fond of strong expressions. He has ac- 
cumulated negatives: 1. 44; 2. 2; 3. 20; 3. 27. He uses the 
exaggerated rac, "all," for many or a large number, 1. 5; 
1. 37; 2. 13. He has the word noXvs forty-three times and 
the adverb ttoXXcL fifteen times. 

(6) Mark elaborates, repeats, adds word to word and 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 137 

phrase to phrase to make his descriptions vivid, adequate, 
full. He says that the leper who was healed went forth and 
began to publish it much and to blase abroad the matter. 76 
He says that the good seed, springing up and increasing, 
was bringing forth. 77 He tells how Peter denied saying, "I 
neither know, nor understand what thou sayest." 78 

(7) Mark gives us details of person, number, time, and 
place which are not paralleled in the other Gospels. He 
says that the disciples had only one loaf with them in the 
boat. 79 He tells us that Peter and James and John and 
Andrew were the disciples who asked about the destruction 
of Jerusalem, and that they were sitting on the mountain 
over against the temple when they did it. 80 He tells us that 
Jesus sent out the twelve two by two. sl He tells us just 
where Jesus was sitting when he saw the widow put her 
mites into the treasury. 82 He alone notes the fact that 
Jesus was with the wild beasts in the wilderness. 83 He 
mentions the pillow in the boat. 84 Every added fact and 
phrase of this kind is invaluable to us, as throwing new light 
upon the life of our Lord. Mark is careful to preserve the 
very syllables which Christ has uttered on certain occa- 
sions. 85 He has certain names which do not occur in any 
other Gospel, as Alphaeus, Jairus, Bartimaeus, Salome, Alex- 
ander and Rufus. 86 

(8) Mark gives us the looks and the emotions, the actions 
and the gestures of the Lord and his apostles. He tells us 



79 Mark 1. 45. 

77 Mark 4. 8. 

78 Mark 14. 68. 
19 Mark 8. 14. 

80 Mark 13. 3, 4. 

81 Mark 6. 7. 

82 Mark 12. 41. 
88 Mark 1. 13. 
84 Mark 4. 38, 



xvi a. 1 * 4. jo. 

85 Mark 5. 41; 7. 34; 10. 51; 14. 36. 
s 'Mark 2. 14; 5. 22; 10. 46; 15. 40; 15. 21. 



138 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

that Jesus looked about with anger. 87 He tells us that the 
Master was filled with indignation when the disciples were 
turning the little children away. 88 He wondered at the un- 
belief of the people. 89 He loved the rich young ruler. 90 
He was astonished at the agony in the garden of Gethsem- 
ane. 91 The Jesus pictured by Mark is a man with all the 
emotions of other men. He has deep compassion for the 
multitude that is as sheep without a shepherd. 92 He sighs 
deeply when his hearers demand a visible and heavenly 
sign. 93 He walks with an air of tragedy about him on the 
way to Jerusalem. 94 He dominates the whole situation with 
the intensity of his zeal as he overturns the tables in the 
temple. 95 Mark has a multitude of pictorial participles, 
setting forth these looks and gestures of the actors in his 
narrative, such as "looking up, looking around, springing 
up, stooping down, speaking indignantly, turning around, 
groaning." 

Actions speak louder than words oftentimes in this Gos- 
pel, as in 3. 5; 10. 14; 10. 21. Note all the particulars 
found in Mark alone of the method of the cure of the deaf 
and dumb man in 7. 33 : "He took him aside from the multi- 
tude privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, 
and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he 
sighed"; and then, only after all these preliminaries, he 
spoke the wonder-working word, "Ephphatha!" Mark is 
the only one who tells us that the rich young ruler ran to 
Jesus and kneeled before him, as he asked his question con- 
cerning eternal life, 96 and Mark alone tells us how the young 
man's countenance fell at the Lord's reply. 97 Mark alone 
tells us that, when Jesus called Bartimseus to him, the blind 



87 Mark 3, 5. 93 Mark 8. 12. 
88 Mark 10. 14. "Mark 10. 32. 

88 Mark 6. 6. 85 Mark 11. 15. 
90 Mark 10. 21. oe Mark 10. 17. 
01 Mark 14. 33. 97 Mark 10. 22. 
82 Mark 6. 34- 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 139 

man cast away his garment and sprang up and came to 
Jesus. 98 Mark alone shows us the high priest, springing 
to his feet and striding forth into the midst of the assembly, 
expressing by his action as well as by his word the indigna- 
tion he felt toward Jesus." These expressive gestures and 
actions give to the narrative a graphic and dramatic char- 
acter which is all its own. 

(9) Mark makes us see just as clearly the effect produced 
upon the people by the words and works of Jesus. We have 
glimpses of the throngs which pressed upon him and de- 
manded his time and attention till he had no chance to eat. 
There was no room even about the doors, we are told. 
There were so many people upon the shore that Jesus was 
compelled to enter a boat and put off a little from the beach 
that he might escape the crowding and that all might see 
and hear. Sometimes those who listen are filled with awe 
and wonder, 100 and sometimes those who look on are amazed 
and begin to fear. 101 

(10) There is an objective and photographic character 
about these accounts which makes them the main source of 
all artistic and dramatic details in modern reproductions. 
The artists and the preachers go to Mark to get the graphic 
touches which make these scenes life-like and real. They 
seem to be the accounts of an eyewitness, and they appeal 
to the eye to-day. Streeter calls them "a collection of 
vignettes — scenes from the Life of the Master," 102 and 
Farrar says of them: "They are painted as it were from 
the photograph of them on Peter's memory. Jesus 'looks 
round' on the worshipers. He 'takes the little children in 
his arms/ and (how mothers will thank Mark for that de- 
tail!) 'lays his hand on them and blesses them/ . . . Take 

98 Mark 10. 50. 
"Mark 14. 60. 

100 Mark 1. 22, 27; 2. 12; 6. 2. 

101 Mark 4. 41 ; 6. 51 ; 10. 24, 26, 32. 

192 Oxford Studies in the Synoptic Problem, p. 220. 



140 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

by way of example the description of the storm upon the 
lake. In Mark alone do we see the waves breaking over 
and half swamping the little ship. In Mark alone do we 
see Jesus in his utter weariness sleeping on the leather 
cushion of the steersman at the stern. 

"Take another scene, the feeding of the five thousand. 
Mark alone tells us of the fresh, green grass on which they 
sat down by hundreds and by fifties; and the word which he 
uses for 'companies' means literally 'flowerbeds/ as though 
to Peter those multitudes, in their festal passover attire, 
with its many-colored Oriental brightness of red and blue, 
looked like the patches of crocus and poppy and tulip and 
amaryllis which he had seen upon the mountain slopes. 
Again, in the narrative of the transfiguration, it is in Mark 
that we see most clearly the dazzling robes of the trans- 
figured Lord as they shed their golden luster over Hermon's 
snow; and it is Mark who shows us most vividly the con- 
trast of that scene of peace and radiance with the tumult 
and agitation of the crowd below — the father's heartrend- 
ing anguish at the foaming and convulsion of the agonized 
demoniac boy, the trouble of the disciples, and the noble 
passions of the Lord. As you gaze on Raphael's immortal 
picture of the transfiguration, you will see at once that it is 
from the narrative of Mark that it derives most of its 
intensity, its movement, its coloring, its contrast, and its 
power. It is these gifts of the evangelist which make one 
writer say of him that he 'wears a richly embroidered gar- 
ment'; and another — thinking of his bright independence 
and originality — that in his Gospel we breathe 'a scent as of 
fresh flowers/ " 103 Fresh flowers ! That is why we value 
the second Gospel so highly. It was the first to be written, 
and there is a freshness about it which is unrivaled in any 
of the others. 

5. This is The Disciple Gospel. 



108 Farrar, op cit., pp. 60, 61. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 141 

Weiss thinks that this Gospel might properly be called by 
this name. 104 He points out that much of its contents has 
to do with the external history and the inner development of 
the disciples, and a disproportionate number of the stories 
concern the disciples and a whole series of its statements 
emanate from the inner circle of the chosen three. 105 This is 
all true. Jesus cares for his more immediate disciples and 
sees that they have their proper rest, 106 and gives them their 
needed instruction as they seem able to bear it. 107 Again 
and again he has to chide them and discipline them. They 
seem almost incredibly stupid and dull of hearing and hard 
of heart. Jesus rebukes them for their slowness to perceive 
his meaning, 108 and for their niggardliness of reverence and 
love. 109 They follow in fear and amazement behind him 
at times. 110 They flee and leave him at the mercy of his 
foes at the last. 111 

It is not a very pleasing picture of the disciples which 
Mark gives us. Possibly that is because it is true to the 
life, and the disciples were not such immaculate characters 
as the reverence of later times has been prone to consider 
them. They were disciples, but they were not saints as yet. 
Among the disciples Peter is the most prominent figure in 
this Gospel, and these intimate reminiscences of the dis- 
ciple band in all probability came originally from him. 

6. This is Peter's Gospel. 

All that we have said about the Gospel of Vivid Descrip- 
tion bears its testimony to this fact. We have in this Gospel 
the narratives of an eyewitness, and we have no reason to 



104 Introduction to the New Testament, vol. ii, p. 241. 
108 Weiss, op. cit., ii, 257. 

106 Mark 6. 31. 

107 Mark 1. 38; 8. 31. 

108 Mark 8. 17. 
108 Mark 14. 6. 

110 Mark 10. 32. 

111 Mark 14. 50. 



142 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

think that Mark himself was an eyewitness. He merely has 
recorded what Peter said in his preaching. Almost all the 
contents of this Gospel might rest upon the personal knowl- 
edge of Peter. 

(i) It begins where Peters own recollections begin, not 
with the preexistence of Jesus, as in the fourth Gospel, and 
not with the stories of annunciation and of the birth of 
Jesus, as in the first and the third Gospels, but with the 
preaching of John the Baptist, which Peter himself had 
heard, and the baptism of Jesus, which he may have seen. 

(2) The first thing narrated in the account of the active 
ministry of Jesus is the call of Peter and Andrew his 
brother. 112 

(3) The whole of the first part of Christ's ministry 
centers in the first visit of the Master to Peter's home ; and 
in Mark alone we are told that his home was occupied by 
the two brothers, Peter and Andrew, together. 113 Luke and 
Matthew mention Simon alone in this connection. It 
was a very strenuous day which Jesus spent there at Caper- 
naum, and all the city was gathered about the door in the 
evening. The next morning, a great while before day, Jesus 
slipped away to recruit his physical and spiritual powers in 
prayer. There must have been something of a feeling of 
consternation among the people when they learned that Jesus 
was gone. It was Peter who with characteristic promptness 
organized a searching party and went forth at the head of 
it to find the missing Master. It is in Mark alone that the 
name of Simon is mentioned in this connection. 114 

(4) Peter's great confession is the climax of this Gos- 
pel. 115 

(5) The Gospel closes with the command of the angel to 
the women, "Go, tell his disciples and Peter, He goeth be- 

112 Mark 1. 16. 

118 Mark 1. 29-32. 

114 Mark 1. 36. 

116 Mark 8. 28. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 143 

fore you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said 
unto you. 116 

(6) Here alone do we read that it was Peter who called 
the Lord's attention to the fig tree withered away from the 
roots, 117 and there are many other such allusions and inci- 
dents recorded as indicate the presence and the remem- 
brance of Peter himself. 

(7) The program of the second Gospel is given in Peter's 
summary of the apostolic preaching as he outlined it to 
Cornelius. 118 This sermon of Peter to Cornelius has been 
called the Gospel of Mark in a nutshell. 119 A still shorter 
summary of its contents can be found in the beginning of 
Peter's sermon at Pentecost. 120 Another statement, short- 
est of all, is contained in Peter's declaration of the neces- 
sities of apostolic testimony made in the upper room. 121 

(8) The whole Gospel is filled with the Petrine spirit. 
All the energy of Peter is manifest in its hurried narrative. 
All the objective and impulsive and comparatively superficial 
observations of Peter are in evidence here. His vivid 
impressions and his practical interests are apparent on every 
page. In the stilling of the storm upon the lake Matthew 
and Luke simply record the fact that Jesus rebuked the 
raging of the wind, and there was a great calm, but Mark 
preserves the very words of the Master. He spoke to the 
wind and said, "Be silent!" and its raging ceased at the 
word. Then he turned to the sea and said, "Be muzzled I" 
and its roaring was cut off at once. Those were strange 
terms to be applied in this way. Jesus spoke to the wind 
as if it were a personality, and could hear and obey. He 
spoke to the sea as if it were a sea-monster or as he spoke 
on another occasion to a demon, 122 as if it had a mouth 
which could be muzzled and this were the best method to 



116 Mark 16. 7. ^Acts 2. 22-24. 

117 Mark 11. 21. ""Acts 1. 22. 

118 Acts 10. 36-40. ^Mark 1. 25. 
118 Schaff, op. cit., p. 633. 



144 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

put an end to its noise. They were strange terms, not to be 
forgotten by anyone who had heard them. They made their 
vivid impression upon Peter and he has given them to Mark. 

Take one of the miracles recorded by Mark alone, and 
notice the dramatic impressiveness of its recital. Jesus 
takes the blind man by the hand and leads him outside the 
village. There he makes spittle and puts it upon the blind 
man's eyes. Then he lays his hands upon the blind man's 
head, and asks him, "Do you see anything?" For the first 
time in his life, it may be, the blind man looks, and we can 
almost see the eager expectation in his countenance and we 
can almost hear his awe-struck ejaculations as the reality of 
the miracle dawns upon him. "I see men! . . . I see 
them as trees standing straight and still ! . . . No, now I 
see them moving ! . . . They are walking !" Then Jesus 
laid his hands upon the blind man's eyes, and the man looked 
steadfastly, and to his straining vision all things became 
clear. Peter had watched the whole transaction closely, 
and it is his clear memory of it which Mark has recorded. 123 

(9) Eusebius 124 pointed out the fact that Peter in his 
preaching omitted many things in the gospel narrative which 
reflected credit upon himself, and that in consequence these 
things were not found in the second Gospel, (a) We are not 
told in this Gospel that Peter walked upon the sea. That 
surely was one of the most wonderful things which ever 
happened in a human life, and it is not mentioned here. 
(b) At the time of the great confession we are not told in 
this Gospel that the Master pronounced Peter blessed as one 
to whom the Father had made special revelation; and we 
do not read that Peter was called the rock upon which 
Christ would build his church, (c) Peter was one of the 
two chosen disciples who were sent to make the prepara- 
tions for the Last Supper. Luke tells us that fact, but 
Mark does not mention Peter's name at this point. 

128 Mark 8. 22-26. 

m Demon. Evang., iii, 5. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 145 

(d) Luke tells us of another singling out of Peter for 
the Master's especial solicitude and prayer. Jesus said to 
Peter directly, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan desired to 
have all of you apostles, that he might sift all of you as 
wheat: but I made supplication for thee, Simon, that thy 
faith may fail not ; and do thou, when thou hast turned again, 
and become steadfast, strengthen and establish all the breth- 
ren." 125 It was a most noteworthy honor bestowed upon 
Peter, that such special supplication should be made for 
him and that such a responsibility for all his brethren should 
be laid upon him. Mark omits all mention of it. (e) We 
learn from John that Peter was the disciple who drew his 
sword at the time of the arrest of Jesus and struck at the 
high priest's servant. 126 It was a foolish thing to do, but 
it was an evidence of Peter's courage and loyalty; and his 
name is not mentioned in this narrative in Mark. (/) 
According to the other Gospels, Peter was the first of 
the apostles to see the risen Lord; but we never would 
have learned that fact from Mark's record. On the con- 
trary, we are explicitly told in the appendix to this Gospel 
that Mary Magdalene was the first who saw Jesus after 
the resurrection. 

(10) The second Gospel not only omits certain things 
which might have reflected honor upon Peter, but it seems 
to be careful to record certain things which were calculated 
to humble him. (a) When Peter reasoned with Jesus that 
he ought not to go up to Jerusalem to suffer and die, we 
read here alone that Jesus turned about and saw that the 
disciples were all observant and listening, and then he 
rebuked Peter and said, "Get thee behind me, Satan; for 
thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of 
men." 127 The record in Mark makes it evident that it was 
a public and most scathing humiliation, (b) On the mount 

118 Luke 22. 31, 32. 
""John 18. 10. 
m Mark 8. 33- 



146 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

of transfiguration when Peter said, "Let us build three 
tabernacles here," Mark explains that utterly foolish speech 
by the statement, "He knew not what to say." 128 Most 
people would have kept silent under such circumstances; 
but Peter always talked whether he knew what to say or 
not. He always was inclined to say something whether 
wise or otherwise. In this case he concluded afterward 
that he had been far from wise in his speech. Morison 
represents him as saying, "I thought I should say some- 
thing ; but really I did not know what to say, I was so con- 
founded and overwhelmed with awe. In the end I actually 
said something foolish." 129 (c) In the Gethsemane scene 
this Gospel singles Peter out for especial rebuke. When 
the Master came and found them sleeping he said unto 
Peter, "Simon, sleepest thou? couldest thou not watch one 
hour?" 130 (d) The account of Peter's disgraceful denial 
of the Lord is given with greater fullness in the second 
Gospel than in any other. Here only we read that Peter 
stood in the light of the fire where his features could be 
easily recognized, and yet he denied his identity when they 
accused him of being a disciple. Here only we are told that 
Peter had two warnings in the two crowings of the cock, 
and that his denial therefore was doubly inexcusable. In 
the other Gospels we read that Peter went out and wept 
bitterly ; here we read simply that he wept. 

If we are right in following the church tradition concern- 
ing the relation of the apostle Peter to the second Gospel, 
the explanation for these omissions and additions in the 
narratives directly concerning Peter himself may be found, 
as Eusebius suggested, in Peter's personal humility in his 
preaching. It is possible that he maintained silence on cer- 
tain points and that he did not hesitate to detail certain other 
things not so creditable to himself. 

128 Mark 9. 6. 

128 Morison, Commentary on Mark, p. xxxvi. 

130 Mark 14. 37. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 147 

7. This is The Gospel of the Strong Son of God. 

( 1 ) We notice, first, the announcement of the first verse, 
"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of 
God." This Gospel declares Jesus to be the Son of God with 
power, a supernatural power unequaled in human history. 
We are reminded of the opening invocation in Tennyson's In 
Memoriam : 

"Strong Son of God, Immortal Love 

Whom we, that have not seen thy face, 
By faith, and faith alone, embrace, 
Believing where we cannot prove ; — " 

This whole Gospel emphasizes the fact that Jesus is the 
Strong Son of God. 

(2) We already have noted that the climax of the Gospel 
comes in that great confession of Peter, "Thou art the 
Christ." 131 

(3) At the close of the crucifixion history the heathen 
centurion makes the startling statement, "Truly this man 
was the Son of God." 132 

(4) In accordance with his emphasis upon this aspect of 
the Lord's ministry the Gospel according to Mark is char- 
acteristically the Gospel of Miracles. Miracles are more in 
evidence here than parables or discourses. Matthew has 
fifteen parables. Mark has only four, and these four are 
in briefest form. But of the thirty-six miracles of which 
we have accounts in the Gospels, Mark has the record of one 
half of them. There are eighteen miracles in sixteen chap- 
ters. In these Jesus displays his power over disease in 
eight, and over nature in five, and over demons in four, and 
over death in one. All the heathen world was looking for 
some power which would protect them from evil spirits. 
Men always have been striving for power over nature, and 
they always have longed for power over disease and death. 

131 Mark 8. 29. 
13a Mark 15. 39. 



148 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Mark proclaimed to the whole Roman empire in this Gos- 
pel, "At last the power for which the ages and the many 
races of men have looked and longed has been manifested 
in Jesus the Christ. He was the Strong Son of God, 
Immortal Love united to Marvelous Might." 

There is no miraculo-phobia in Mark. There is a mir- 
acle-mania instead. He emphasizes the miraculous through- 
out. Nearly one half of the chapters of this book close with 
some comprehensive summing up of Christ's ministry of 
power. 133 In Matt. 16. 28 we read the prophecy of Jesus 
that some of those standing by would not die until they saw 
the Son of man coming in his kingdom. In the parallel pas- 
sage in Mark 9. 1 the prophecy reads that they would not 
die until they saw the kingdom of God come with power. 
Nearly one half of this Gospel is given to the narration of 
the deeds of power which proved that one mightier than 
men and mightier than any of the heathen gods, even the 
mighty Son of God himself, had appeared to save the race. 
That is the ultimate end aimed at in all these marvels. The 
last statement we find in the appendix to the Gospel is that 
the apostles went forth and preached everywhere after the 
ascension, the Lord working with them, and confirming the 
word by the signs that followed. 134 The Lord is still at 
work. His mighty deeds never have ended. They will not 
end until all the world has been reached and the whole 
creation has been redeemed. 

Mark shows us again and again how the work of Jesus 
astonished the people of that generation in which he lived. 
"They were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned 
among themselves, saying, What is this? a new teaching! 
with authority he commandeth even the unclean spirits, and 
they obey him." 135 The paralytic was healed, and then we 
read, "They were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, 



188 See Chaps. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 14, 16. 
134 Mark 16. 20. 



Mark 1. 27. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 149 

We never saw it on this fashion.'' 136 The daughter of 
Jairus was restored to her parents and the news was car- 
ried to the people, and we read, "They were amazed straight- 
way with a great amazement." 137 He taught in the syna- 
gogue, and Mark tells us that "many hearing him were 
astonished." 138 Jesus walked upon the sea and stilled the 
storm, and Mark says that the disciples "were sore amazed 
in themselves" at all these things. 139 A deaf man who had 
an impediment in his speech was brought to Jesus and his 
ears were opened and his tongue loosed so that he spake 
plain. Then, says Mark, "They were beyond measure 
astonished, saying, He hath done all things well : he maketh 
even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." 14 ° All 
along the course of Jesus through this Gospel the people are 
astonished by his words and his works. He arouses amaze- 
ment on every hand and at every turn. If these things were 
true at the beginning what will be true at the end? The 
whole universe will be astonished at the glorious outcome of 
the gospel of Jesus the Christ, the Strong Son of God. 

(5) It is a Mighty Victor who is presented to us in the 
pages of this Gospel. He has power over demons, disease, 
and death. There is no malady he may not cure. There 
is no Satanic power he may not bind and despoil of all its 
vaunted wealth. He is the Strongest of the strong. Death, 
the universal conqueror, has no power over him. He healed 
the leper with a touch. He healed the paralytic or the 
dumb with a word. He recalled the dead to life. He de- 
fied any prejudice of the Jews which was not founded upon 
the prescriptions of the Mosaic Law. He broke the Sabbath 
regulations of the scribes without hesitation. He sat down 
to dine with publicans and sinners with perfect composure. 

188 Mark 2. 12. 
137 Mark 5. 42. 
188 Mark 6. 2. 
188 Mark 6. 51. 
140 Mark 7. 37. 



150 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

He claimed authority to forgive sins. He defied his foes 
at will, and foiled their designs against him whenever he 
chose. He cleansed the temple from all of those who defiled 
it and turned it into a den of thieves. He faced the Sanhe- 
drin in calm contempt. He was a Victor even while he hung 
upon the cross; and he rose from the grave to be crowned 
Eternal Victor and to be seated on the throne. "Could any- 
thing appeal more strongly to the Roman mind than this idea 
of a mighty conqueror, before whom nothing was able to 
stand — a conqueror who was destined to achieve world-wide 
empire ? And in the hour of her weakness what encourage- 
ment ought to come to the church from the reflection that 
the Mighty Christ whom Mark portrays is moving steadily 
forward, overcoming all opposition, subduing all things 
to the will of heaven, and establishing on the earth a king- 
dom that cannot be shaken !" 141 We hasten now to add an- 
other characterization of the second Gospel, which seems 
to us to represent its distinguishing feature. 

8. This is The Gospel of Service. 

The second Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus as the Servant 
of all. The Gospel of the Son of God would as a matter of 
course be the Gospel of the Servant of Jehovah. Sonship 
and service always are joined in the Scriptures. In Exodus 
we read, "Israel is my son, my first-born ; let my son go, that 
he may serve me." 142 Paul exhorts all the sons of God to 
present their bodies holy, acceptable unto God, which is their 
spiritual service. 143 The incarnate Son of God, the First- 
Born, did that. He took upon him the form of a servant. 144 
His life was a life of devoted and incessant service. The 
pentecostal church called the Lord by that title, "Thy holy 
Servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint." 145 They said, 



141 Campbell, The Teachings of the Books, p. 52. 

142 Exod. 4. 22, 23. 
148 Rom. 12. 1, 2. 

144 Phil. 2. 7. 

145 Acts 4. 27. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 151 

"God . . . hath glorified his Servant Jesus." 146 Mat- 
thew presented the King; Mark presents the Servant. The 
symbol of Matthew was the lion; that of Mark is the ox. 
This is the Gospel of the Minister, the Gospel of the min- 
istering Christ, the One who came not to be ministered 
unto but to minister. 

This contrast between the second Gospel and the other 
synoptics is apparent, (1) in the omissions in Mark's nar- 
rative, (a) He has no royal genealogy, no story of a super- 
natural conception, no worship by Wise Men come from 
afar to offer their gifts to a new-born King, as Matthew had. 
(b) He does not begin with any reference to preexistent and 
everexistent glory, as John does, (c) Mark has no Sermon 
on the Mount, laying down the laws for a new kingdom, 
for here we have the servant and not the king, (d) Here 
we find no national manifesto and arraignment and judg- 
ment, such as the other Gospels have, (e) Here there is no 
reference to his right to summon twelve legions of angels 
to his help. (/) Here there is no promise of paradise to the 
thief on the cross. These things belong to the prerogatives 
of a king, (g) It has even been suggested that the Gos- 
pel closed abruptly at 12. 8 as it begins abruptly with the 
active ministry, because this is the Gospel of Jesus as the 
Servant. "A servant comes, fulfils his task, and departs — 
we do not ask about his lineage, nor follow his subsequent 
history." 147 Mark himself was a servant, simply an at- 
tendant upon Barnabas, Peter, and Paul. He was useful in 
ministering to these greater men, and his ideal came to be 
that of faithful administration of daily duties in the service 
of the church. This may in some measure account for the 
emphasis upon this side of the character of Jesus. Mark 
represents him as the perfect Servant of men, as well as 
the perfect Servant of God. 

(2) The spirit of Jesus throughout is the self-surrender- 

146 Acts 3. 13. 

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, p. 1989, 



147 



152 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

ing spirit of devotion and love. The ardor of his spirit and 
the fervor of his service are made noticeable in this Gospel. 
The Spirit drives him into the wilderness. 148 He is angry 
and grieved. 149 He sighs deeply. 150 He is moved with 
indignation. 151 His friends declared he was beside himself, 
crazy, and that he ought to be put under restraint. 152 These 
are indications of the great stress upon him all the time. 

Jesus is an indefatigable Servant in this Gospel, never 
faltering in his devotion, always ready at any call of need. 153 
He is a model to all ministers, saying little and working 
much. He is tireless in sympathy and in labor, quiet and 
unostentatious, ready and reliable. He was the holy Servant 
of the Father in everything. He was wholly the servant of 
men all the time. 

(3) In this Gospel alone do we find the explicit state- 
ment of the limitation of knowledge on the part of the 
Incarnate One. 154 

(4) The only parable peculiar to this Gospel seems to 
emphasize the point of the utter dependence of man upon 
the higher powers and the necessity of his utter obedience 
to their behests. 155 

(5) "It is a remarkable fact that, while this Gospel de- 
picts the Jesus of history so preeminently in his power, it 
records with literal faithfulness things which might seem 
so far to limit that power. It tells us how the unclean spirits 
first resisted, 1. 24, and how he could do no mighty work 
in Nazareth because of their unbelief, 6. 5. It describes with 
precise and vivid circumstance those miracles which were 
wrought not instantaneously and by word, but with com- 
parative slowness and by the use of means, 7. 31-35 ; 8. 
22-26. It is also rich in touches which speak to the identity 
of Christ's human nature with ours in feeling and in the 



148 Mark 1. 12. " 2 Mark 3. 21. 

149 Mark 3. 5- lM Mark 1. 35-38; 3. 20; 6. 31, 
1M Mark 8. 12. m Mark 13. 32. 

m Mark 10. 14. 1M Mark 4. 26-29. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 153 

experience of infirmity, revealing him not only in his com- 
passion, 6. 34; 8. 2; his love, 10. 21; his majesty and 
serenity, 4. 37-40; 9. 2-9; but in his sense of hunger, 11. 12; 
his need of rest, 4. 38; his anger and displeasure, 3. 5; 
10. 14; his sighing, 7. 34; 8. 12 ; his wonder, 6. 6; his grief, 
3. 5; his longing for solitude, 1. 35; 6. 30-32. ,, 156 The 
power of the Son of God in this Gospel is the power of a 
Servant, dependent in real humanity. 

(6) It is a strange and most interesting fact that Mark 
persistently and consistently omits the title "Lord," as ap- 
plied to Jesus, throughout the record of his earthly ministry, 
(a) In Matt. 8. 2 we read that a leper came worshiping him 
and saying, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." 
We turn to Mark 1. 40 and we read of the same incident and 
we are told that the leper made the same speech, except that 
he omits the title "Lord." The leper said, "If thou wilt, 
thou canst make me clean." We possibly might never notice 
a slight difference of that sort if it occurred but once; 
but we find that it runs through the entire Gospel, (b) In 
Matt. 8. 25 we read of the tempest on the sea while Jesus 
was sleeping, and how the disciples awoke him saying, 
"Save, Lord ; we perish." Then we turn to Mark 4. 38 and 
we read that the disciples said, "Teacher, carest thou not 
that we perish?" According to Mark, they called Jesus 
"Teacher" and not "Lord." (c) In Matt. 17. 4 Peter on 
the mount of transfiguration says to Jesus, "Lord, it is good 
for us to be here : if thou wilt, I will make here three taber- 
nacles ; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 
Surely, if there was any one moment in the life of Jesus 
when Peter would have been most likely to have called 
Jesus "Lord," it would have been here when the trans- 
figuration glory was blinding their eyes; yet when we turn 
to the Gospel according to Mark, which is supposed to record 
Peter's own reminiscences of these things, and read of this 
experience there, we find that Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, 

166 Salmond, in Hastings's Bible Dictionary, vol. iii, p. 25$. 



154 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

it is good for us to be here," 9. 5. Surely, Peter would be the 
best authority for what he himself said on this occasion, and 
we must conclude, therefore, that even at the transfiguration 
Peter called Jesus "Rabbi" and not "Lord." (d) In Matt. 
17. 15 we read that when they came down from the mount 
of transfiguration a man met them who kneeled to Jesus 
and said, "Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is epileptic." 
Then we turn to Mark 9. 17 and we find that the man said, 
"Teacher, I brought unto thee my son." "Teacher," not 
"Lord"! (e) In Luke 18. 41 Jesus asks the blind man at 
Jericho, "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee ?" And 
he said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight." In Mark 
10. 51 Jesus asks the same question, but the blind man 
answers, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight." "Rab- 
boni," not "Lord"! Mark prefers to call Jesus Rabboni, 
Rabbi, Teacher. He makes frequent references to his 
teaching, and the words didaxrj, "teaching," and dcddoKG), 
"teach," are found more often in this Gospel than in any 
other, (f) When at the Last Supper Jesus said that one of 
the apostles should betray him we read in Matt. 26. 22 that 
every one said to him, "Is it I, Lord?" We compare Mark 
14. 19 and we find that they each asked, "Is it I ?" but they 
omit the title "Lord." 

This, then, is characteristic of the Gospel according to 
Mark throughout. It never calls Jesus "Lord" before his 
resurrection except on one occasion, (g) In Mark 7. 28 the 
Syrorihoenician woman, a heathen woman with all the 
heathen superstitions, says to Jesus, "Yea, Lord; even the 
dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs." With 
this single exception, in which the title is used not by any 
disciple but by a heathen Greek woman, this oldest of the 
Gospels carefully refrains from calling Jesus "Lord" until 
after his resurrection from the dead, (h) In Mark 16. 19 
we read, "So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken unto 
them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right 
hand of God." (i) Then in the next verse, the closing 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 155 

verse of the appendix to the Gospel, 16. 20, we read that 
they went forth and preached everywhere, "the Lord work- 
ing with them, and confirming the word with the signs that 
followed." This title "Lord" is the only title given to 
Jesus in the post-resurrection appendix to the second Gospel. 
It may be possible that this uniform practice of the second 
Gospel may represent the opinion of Peter that the title 
"Lord" was rightly applicable to the Saviour only after he 
had passed from the humiliation of the incarnation to the 
exaltation of the resurrection and ascension existence in 
unrestricted divine power. It may represent the uniform 
practice of Peter himself. (/) At any rate, when we turn 
to the sermon which Peter preached at Pentecost we find 
that he begins with the "man Jesus," approved of God, but 
crucified and buried, Acts 2. 22, 23. (k) Then he goes on 
to say, "This Jesus did God raise up," 2. 32 ; and it was the 
resurrected Jesus whom "David called Lord," 2. 34. (/) 
When he comes to the conclusion and the climax of that 
sermon he makes the statement that Jesus has a right to a 
new title now : "Let all the house of Israel therefore know 
assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, 
this Jesus whom ye crucified," 2. 36. We have known him 
as Jesus; we will know him henceforth as Lord! The 
resurrection and ascension have proved his right to bear 
that name. Mark has refrained from calling Jesus "Lord" 
during the time of his public ministry. This title is granted 
to Jesus only after his exaltation to the Father's throne. In 
the second Gospel Jesus is a Teacher, a Minister, a Servant, 
and not a Lord. 

IV. Noteworthy Additions to the Gospel Narrative 

There is very little material in Mark which is not repro- 
duced either in Matthew, or Luke. The incidents or sayings 
which are peculiar to Mark fill not more than fifty verses 157 

107 Hawkins, Horae Synopticae, ii. 



156 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

and form only about seven per cent of the total contents. 
We note some of these things found only in Mark : 

1. There is one parable not found elsewhere, that of the 
seed growing without man's interference between sowing 
and harvest. 158 

2. There are two miracles of healing found only in Mark, 
that of the deaf and dumb man, and that of the blind man. 159 

3. Here only we read that the friends of Jesus thought 
seriously of interfering with his ministry and violently re- 
straining him because they had concluded that he was beside 
himself. 160 

4. Here only we find the statement that during his youth 
and young manhood Jesus was a carpenter and worked at 
the carpenter's trade. 161 Matthew changes the passage to 
read, "the son of the carpenter." 162 Doubtless Joseph the 
father was a carpenter and Jesus the son followed his 
father's trade. 

5. Mark alone gives us Christ's abrogation of the Levit- 
ical law concerning the clean and unclean meats : "This he 
said, making all meats clean." 163 It was as if Jesus had 
taken the Bible of his day, the Book of the Law, and had 
torn a leaf right out of it. He declared that the eleventh 
chapter of Leviticus was out of date henceforth, and no one 
was to be bound by its regulations. He did not know that 
modern critics would decide that the so-called Law of Holi- 
ness there in the book of Leviticus was of comparatively 
late date and, since post exilic in its origin, not to be com- 
pared with the primitive Mosaic regulations in its authority. 
He did not rule out these refinements of the ritual on any 
grounds of original authorship. With his clear sight and 
common sense it seemed to be self-evident that men were 
not defiled by their food, but by evil thoughts and prac- 



188 Mark 4. 26-29. M Mark 6. 3. 

"•Mark 7. 32-37; 8. 22-26. 1M Matt. 13. 55- 

ie0 Mark 3. 21. 163 Mark 7. 19. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 157 

tices. A man's stomach might be upset and it would right 
itself by the processes of nature; but if a man's heart were 
defiled, it would not right itself naturally. That defilement 
remained and was the prolific source of all wrongdoing. 

It did not matter so much what was in a man's stomach ; 
it mattered much what was in a man's heart. He might eat 
anything which was wholesome and not be defiled. He 
might be a meat eater and be a good man. He might ob- 
serve all the distinctions laid down between clean and un- 
clean meats there in Leviticus and be a villain. He might 
be a vegetarian and not be a saint. It was not that which 
went into a man's stomach which defiled him ; it was that 
which went into his heart. He could not retain anything 
in his stomach very long; he could cherish corruption 
within his heart. It was the common sense of a carpenter, 
a plain working man, which spoke in these words. If any 
regulations in the book of Leviticus ran counter to the dic- 
tates of common sense, Jesus for one was ready to set them 
aside. Ritual purity did not count in comparison with pur- 
ity of heart. Ritual regulations which did not approve 
themselves to the reason might with reason be abandoned at 
once. It always has been the plain man's attitude to ecclesi- 
astical prescriptions. It was the attitude of Jesus. He 
had no such reverence for the Word of God as contained in 
a book that he was not willing to listen to the word of God 
in his own soul. If the two ever came into conflict, the book 
was set aside. 

6. Mark alone has the three questions put by Jesus to the 
disciples, "Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear 
ye not? and do ye not remember?" 164 It was a threefold 
indictment of their stupidity. 

7. Mark alone has the incident of the young man who fled 
naked from the garden. 165 



194 Mark 8. 18. 
185 Mark 14. 51 



158 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

8. Mark alone tells us that Jesus was smitten by the serv- 
ants of the chief priests. 166 

9. We learn from Mark alone that Pilate was so surprised 
when he heard that Jesus was already dead that he sent for 
the centurion to have his corroboration of the news. 167 
These are minor particulars, some of them, but we could 
ill spare any of them. 

V. The Style of the Gospel 

We add just a few words on the style of the book. The 
Greek of the second Gospel is comparatively poor and 
sometimes incorrect. We note the following characteristics 
of style : 

1. There is a poverty of connecting particles. Take 
3. 1-26 for an example. The conjunction "and" occurs in 
these verses forty-six times, and thirty times it is used in 
connecting sentences with each other. The conjunction 
"for" is found twice and the conjunction "but" is found 
once ; and that ends the list in this passage. Mark uses only 
the simpler conjunctions as a rule, and the simplest of them 
all most of the time. "In Bruder's Konkordanz, under icai, 
in oratione historica, Matthew occupies four columns, Luke 
six and a half, John one and three fourths, Acts two and 
two thirds, while the short Gospel according to Mark oc- 
cupies six and a half. Even when the relation is adver- 
sative Mark is satisfied with /cat, as in 6. 19 and 12. 12." 168 

2. There are several broken and irregular grammatical 
constructions in this Gospel ; for example, 3. 15 ; 4. 11 ; 4. 15 ; 
6. 22; 9. 41 ; 13. 14; 14. 72. In some of these passages it is 
difficult to determine the exact meaning because of the diffi- 
cult constructions. There are not as many flagrant errors 
of grammar in Mark, however, as in the Apocalypse. 

3. Mark has nine or more of what the Greek gramma- 

168 Mark 14. 65. 
187 Mark 15. 44. 
ie8 Zahn, op. cit, p, 502. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 159 

rians called vulgarisms, all of which are avoided in the par- 
allel accounts by Luke. 

4. Mark is more Hebraistic than Matthew or Luke and 
has more genuine Semitic idioms than even the Apocalypse 
of John. 

VI. The Most Authentic and Authoritative Gospel 

We have seen that the consensus of modern scholarship 
tends to the conclusion that Mark was the first chronolog- 
ically to compose a Gospel. He is not an abbreviator of the 
Gospel according to Matthew or of any other Gospel. On 
the other hand, there are numerous and convincing evi- 
dences of the fact that the other Gospel writers had the 
narrative of Mark, or one very similar to it, before them 
when they wrote. Mark has not abbreviated them; they 
have revised and enlarged him. In Mark's record, there- 
fore, we come nearest in time to the words and the works 
of the Lord. This is the primitive evangelic tradition. 

Dr. Horton has said of it : "The famous Church of Saint 
Mark at Venice is singular amongst mediaeval churches in 
two respects. In the first place, the mosaics which cover 
it, wholly within and largely without, form, as it were, an 
illustrated Bible which speaks rather to the eye than to the 
ear ; and, secondly, in this church Christ and the cross take 
the place of preeminence, which elsewhere is occupied by 
Mary and the saints. Now, curiously enough, these two 
features of the great Church of Saint Mark at Venice ac- 
curately reflect the two most striking characteristics of the 
Gospel which is called by the name of Mark. This Gospel 
stands out among the four as the most picturesque — the one 
in which everything passes, as it were, before the eye. Its 
chapters are like the mosaics in the great church, or like 
the cartoons of a great painter, presenting the appearance 
and the actions of Christ. Further, this Gospel is so occu- 
pied with Christ alone, that the other figures which appear 
in the canvases of Matthew and Luke — Joseph and Mary, 



i6o THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

John the Baptist, the disciples, the groups of Jews — all sink 
into the background; they are mere suggestions; their por- 
traits are not attempted. This Gospel is in literature the 
earliest, the simplest, the most direct likeness of Jesus alone. 
The other Gospels have their distinguishing merits — each 
is invaluable, but for unity and completeness of impression, 
for lifelike contact with the subject of the narrative, for 
immediate perception of our Lord as he would appear to the 
eyes of the men who knew him — to such eyes as Peter's, 
for example, during the brief period from the beginning of 
his public ministry to his premature death — for these pur- 
poses this second Gospel stands unique among our New 
Testament treasures." 169 

Bishop Westcott has given us this estimate of the second 
Gospel: "In substance and style and treatment the Gospel 
according to Mark is essentially a transcript from life. The 
course and the issue of facts are imaged in it with the clear- 
est outline. If all other arguments against the mythic 
origin of the evangelic narratives were wanting, this 
vivid and simple record, stamped with the most distinct 
impress of independence and originality — totally uncon- 
nected with the symbolism of the Old Dispensation, totally 
independent of the deeper reasonings of the New — would be 
sufficient to refute a theory subversive of all faith in his- 
tory." 17 ° It is doubtful whether we could say as much con- 
cerning any of the other Gospels. They all bear evidence of 
more or less doctrinal bias, and their accounts are colored 
more or less by the theological viewpoint of the authors. 

The difference between Mark and Matthew, who probably 
came next in chronological order, can be seen in any com- 
parison of their parallel accounts. 

i. The second Gospel does not hesitate to ascribe all the 
natural human emotions to Jesus. Again and again Mat- 
thew omits the descriptions given by Mark, as in Mark 

189 The Cartoons of Saint Mark, pp. 3, 4. 

170 Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, p. 369. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 161 

3. 5, "had looked round about on them with anger, being 
grieved"; and 1. 41, "having been moved with compassion"; 
and 1. 43, "having sternly charged him"; and 3. 21, "He is 
beside himself" ; and 6. 6, "he marveled" ; and 8. 12, "having 
groaned in spirit"; and 10. 14, "he was moved with indigna- 
tion"; and 10. 21, "looking upon him loved him." All of 
these emotional experiences of Jesus are omitted in Mat- 
thew's account. Is this an evidence of a growing reverence 
for Jesus which hesitated to chronicle the fact that he had 
shown the same emotions with ordinary humanity? It has 
been so suggested. At any rate, we feel that in Mark's nar- 
rative we come closer to the real Jesus and that we see him 
as he is, with no glamour of reverence thrown about his 
person and no reservation as to his real character. 

2. The second Gospel tells us that Jesus wished for certain 
things which he did not obtain, and found that there were 
certain things which he could not do; and Matthew either 
omits these statements altogether or so modifies them as to 
leave the inability of Jesus out of sight in a large measure. 
For example, in Mark we read in 1. 45, "Jesus no longer 
was able to enter into a city" ; and in 6. 5, "he was not able 
to do any miracle there." Matt. 13. 58 changes this state- 
ment into "He did not many miracles there." The follow- 
ing statements as to the desires of Jesus, found in Mark, are 
omitted altogether in Matthew. In Mark 6. 48 we read, 
"He was willing to pass them by" ; and in 7. 24, "He en- 
tered into a house, and he was desiring no one to know it; 
and he was not able to escape observation"; and in 9. 30, 
"He not desiring that any man should know it." 

3. Mark represents Jesus as asking questions for informa- 
tion continually. Matthew for the most part leaves these 
questions out of his narrative. For example, the questions 
asked by Jesus, recorded in Mark 5. 9; 5. 30; 6. 38; 8. 12; 
8. 23 ; 9. 12 ; 9. 16 ; 9. 21 ; 9. 33 ; 10. 3 ; 14. 14 are all omitted 
by Matthew. 

4. The following differences between Mark and Matthew 



162 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

are noticeable and may be due to the cause we have 
mentioned, (a) In Mark 6. 3 we read that Jesus was a 
carpenter; but in Matt. 13. 55 it is changed into "the son of 
a carpenter." (b) In Mark 10. 18 Jesus asks, "Why dost 
thou call me good?" In Matt. 19. 17 the question becomes, 
"Why askest thou me concerning that which is good?" (c) 
In Mark 1. 32, 33 we read that all who were sick were 
brought to Jesus and that he healed many. Matt. 8. 16 just 
changes the terms about and tells us that many were brought 
and all were healed, (d) Mark records two miracles of heal- 
ing in which Jesus made use of physical means and in one 
of which the cure seems to be gradual and effected with some 
difficulty. Matthew omits these miracles, and records others 
in which the cure was effected with a word, (e) Mark 9. 26 
tells us how the poor epileptic boy suffered after Jesus had 
commanded the dumb and deaf spirit to come out of him, 
"Having . . . torn him much, he came out : and the boy 
became as one dead; insomuch that the more part said, He 
is dead." Matthew omits all these details. We might draw 
the same contrast between Mark and Luke or between Mark 
and John as between Mark and Matthew. All the other 
evangelists believe just as thoroughly as Mark in the real 
humanity of Jesus and have given manifold proofs of it in 
their narratives, but there is an openness and unreserved- 
ness in Mark's account which we miss in the others. He is 
frank in statement and free from dogmatic bias of any sort. 
He reverences nothing so much as the plain and unadorned 
truth of things. 

5. He does not shield the apostles at any point. Here 
again we can contrast his narrative with that of Matthew. 

(a) In Mark 4. 13 Jesus rebukes his disciples, "Do ye not 
know this parable ? and how shall ye appreciate all the para- 
bles?" In Matt. 13. 16 this rebuke is omitted and a blessing 
recorded in its place, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see." 

(b) In Mark 8. 17 Jesus is rebuking the disciples again and 
he says to them, "Do ye not yet perceive, neither under- 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 163 

stand? have ye your heart hardened? Having eyes, see ye 
not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remem- 
ber?" In the parallel account in Matt. 16. 9 all of this re- 
buke is omitted, (c) Again in Mark 6. 52 we find the state- 
ment, "They understood not concerning the loaves, but their 
heart was hardened." This statement is omitted in Mat- 
thew 14. 33. (d) In Mark 9. 10 we read that the disciples 
were questioning among themselves what the rising again 
from the dead should mean, and in 9. 33, 34 they are dis- 
puting on the public way as to who was the greater 
among them. Matthew omits all record of these disputes. 
(e) In Mark 9. 32 we read, "And they understood not the 
saying, and were afraid to ask him." In Matt. 17. 23 this 
is softened down to the comparatively complimentary state- 
ment, "And they were exceedingly sorry." (/) Again in 
14. 40 Mark says that the disciples knew not what to answer 
Jesus; and Matthew omits this statement of their incapac- 
ity. 171 These contrasts between Mark and Matthew are 
sufficient to show that we have a primary account in Mark 
which has been modified for various reasons in all the later 
records. 

Therefore we agree with the conclusion of Maclean that 
in Mark we come much closer to the bed-rock of the gospel 
story than in either Matthew or Luke, 172 and with the state- 
ments of A. B. Bruce: "The realism of Mark makes for its 
historicity. It is a guarantee of first-hand reports, such as 
one might expect from Peter. Peter reverences his risen 
Lord as much as Luke or any other man. But he is one of 
the men who have been with Jesus, and he speaks from in- 
delible impressions made on his eye and ear, while Luke 
reports at second hand from written accounts for the most 
part. . . . Mark is the archaic Gospel, written under the 
inspiration not of prophecy like Matthew, or of present 
reverence like Luke, but of fondly cherished past memories. 

171 Compare Allen, Commentary on Matthew, pp. xxxi-xxxiv. 

172 Hastings's Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, vol. ii, p. 128. 



164 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

In it we get nearest to the human personality of Jesus, in 
all its originality and power, and as colored by the time 
and place. And the character of Jesus loses nothing by the 
realistic presentation. Nothing is told which needed to be 
hid. The homeliest facts reported by the evangelist only in- 
crease our interest and our admiration. One who desires 
to see the Jesus of history truly should con well the 
pages of Mark first, then pass on to Matthew and Luke." 173 

In closing this study of the second Gospel we could adopt 
as our own the words of the Dean of Westminster, J. 
Armitage Robinson. "I hope that in the light of what I have 
very briefly said you will be encouraged to read the Gospel 
according to Mark with a fresh interest as the work of a 
single hand which paints with broad strokes and bright 
colors the earliest picture we possess of the Saviour of the 
world." 174 

As the earliest Gospel, written when the facts were yet 
fresh in Peter's memory ; as the Gospel resting upon Peter's 
authority, the authority of an eyewitness; as the Gospel 
which seems freest from all philosophical or theological pre- 
possessions, the second Gospel is generally recognized by 
modern scholars as the most authentic and most authorita- 
tive of the evangelical narratives ; and in this conclusion the 
value set upon Mark in the past centuries has been exactly 
reversed. From being the most neglected and the least 
valued by New Testament scholars it now ranks before all 
others as a historical source and a reliable basis for all 
further study. 

VII. The Appendix to the Second Gospel, Mark 16. 9-20 

The question concerning these verses is, Did Mark write 
them or were they written by some other hand? The 
authorities are arrayed against each other at this point. 

173 Expositor's Greek Testament, vol. i, p. 33. 

174 Robinson, The Study of the Gospels, p. 36. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 165 

We make a list of these, and then look at the reasons 
assigned for their differing positions. 

1. The Authorities. The following are among those who 
believe that these verses were written by Mark : Simon, Mill, 
Grotius, Bengel, Scrivener, Guericke, Wolf, Wace, Storr, 
Kuinoel, Kiel, Matthaei, Scholz, Stier, Bisping, Eichhorn, 
Hug, Schleiermacher, DeWette, Wetstein, Bleek, Olshausen, 
Lange, Ebrard, Edersheim, Hilgenfeld, Salmon, Words- 
worth, McClellan, Bickersteth, Cook, Campbell, Ellicott, 
Morison, Miller, Burgon. Scrivener says, "We engage to 
defend the authenticity of this long and important paragraph 
without the slightest misgiving." 175 Dean Burgon has 
written a volume on the subject of the genuineness of the 
closing verses of Mark and his conclusion is, "There is not 
a particle of doubt, not an atom of suspicion, attaching to 
the last twelve verses of Mark." On the other hand the 
genuineness of these verses has been questioned by many, 
and among them the following authorities : Michaelis, 
Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Schulz, 
Ritschl, Resch, Zeller, Fritzsche, Credner, Reuss, Wieseler, 
Klostermann, Hofmann, Holtzmann, Keim, Scholten, 
Hitzig, Schenkel, Ewald, Meyer, Weiss, Zahn, Abbott, Al- 
ford, Davidson, Farrar, Schaff, Swete, Salmond, Thomson, 
Maclean, Norton, Godet, Lightfoot, Luthardt, Warfield, 
Westcott and Hort, Gregory, Gould. There are names of 
able scholars in both of these lists. Why is it that they have 
not been able to agree in their conclusions as to these verses ? 
The answer to that question opens up a very interesting 
study in the field of textual and higher criticism. There is 
evidence for these verses and there is evidence against 
them, and one must balance probabilities in reaching any 
issue. 

2. The External Evidence in favor of these verses: (1) 
They are found in most of the uncial manuscripts and in all 

176 Introduction to the Study of the New Testament, Fourth edi- 
tion, vol. i, p. 337. 



166 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

of the cursives. In some cursives, however, they are marked 
as questionable. 

(2) They are found in most of the versions, including the 
Syriac in all forms but one, the Latin in all forms but one, 
and all the Syriac and Greek lectionaries. 

(3) They are quoted by many of the church Fathers, pos- 
sibly by Hermas, Justin Martyr, and Chrysostom, and cer- 
tainly by Irenseus, Eusebius, Macarius, Epiphanius, Didy- 
mus, Nestorius, Ambrose, Augustine, and the later Latin 
writers. 

3. Other considerations favoring the genuineness of these 
verses : ( 1 ) Without these verses the Gospel would end with 
the Greek words e^opovvro yap, "for they were being 
afraid." It is extremely improbable that Mark would have 
closed his book with this note of terror, or with a Greek 
conjunction. It is sometimes stated that Greek books never 
end with words of bad omen ; but there are some which do, 
and cases can be cited where the last word is a particle. 
However, these are very rare indeed, and it would seem 
next to impossible for Mark to have closed a gospel nar- 
rative, the story of the good news concerning Jesus, with 
these words. Dr. Hort decides that "it is incredible that 
the evangelist deliberately concluded either a paragraph with 
k(po(3ovvTo yap, or the Gospel with a petty detail of a sec- 
ondary event, leaving his narrative hanging in the air." 176 

(2) If Mark did not close his narrative at 16. 8, he must 
have written some conclusion of the story which included 
some account of the resurrection. 

(3) It seems beyond belief that Mark should have written 
a conclusion for this Gospel which was lost and then 
replaced with another written by some one else, and that 
this conclusion should then have been accepted everywhere 
as the genuine writing of Mark. 

(4) A very plausible reason has been suggested for the 
omission of these verses in some manuscripts. We read 

178 Westcott and Hort, Greek Testament, vol. ii, notes, p. 46. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 167 

here, "These signs shall accompany them that believe: in 
my name shall they cast out demons ; they shall speak with 
new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink 
any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them." 177 Maca- 
rius Magnes, about A. D. 400, says that the heathen were 
challenging the Christians with these verses, saying to them : 
"Are you Christians? Do you believe? Can you show us 
the signs which accompany those who believe? Can you 
handle serpents? Can you drink poison and be in no wise 
hurt by it?" It was difficult to answer such questions. 
The heathen probably had asked them from the very begin- 
ning. It was easier to take those verses out of the Gospel 
according to Mark than it was to satisfy the questioner 
either by actual test or plausible argument. This sugges- 
tion favors the genuineness of these verses, and simply seeks 
to account for their omission in some of the authorities. 

We turn now to the considerations urged against the gen- 
uineness of this appendix to the second Gospel. 

4. The External Evidence against these verses: (1) The 
first and most important fact we meet in this connection is 
that the two oldest and most authoritative manuscripts of 
the New Testament do not contain them. In both the Sin- 
aiticus and Vaticanus the Gospel according to Mark ends 
with 16. 8. The same thing is true of Codex Regius. The 
symbols of these three codices are Aleph, B, and L. Usu- 
ally the united testimony of Aleph and B would be regarded 
as sufficient to decide against the genuineness of any pas- 
sage in the New Testament not found in them. Some text- 
ual critics have thought that their united testimony was 
weakened in the present case by certain considerations which 
we will notice later. 

(2) These verses are not found in the Lewis palimpsest 
of the Syriac version, which Eberhard Nestle and J. Rendel 
Harris think represents the first attempt to translate the Gos- 
pel into Syriac, and therefore is older than the Peshito or any 

177 Mark 16. 17, 18. 



168 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

other Syriac version. These verses also are lacking in one 
of the manuscripts of the Old Latin version, in one of the 
Arabic, and in some Armenian and Ethiopian versions. The 
earliest texts from Carthage, Alexandria, Palestine, and 
Syria omit these verses; and the only second century evi- 
dence for them comes from Italy and Gaul. 

(3) Eusebius says that these verses were not in the "ac- 
curate copies" of his day. 178 Jerome says they are to be 
found in few Gospels, "almost all the Greek copies not hav- 
ing it." 179 Victor of Antioch and Gregory of Nyssa bear 
the same testimony to the fact that the majority of the 
manuscripts in their day did not have them. 

(4) They are not mentioned by Clement of Rome or 
Clement of Alexandria. However, this fact need not weigh 
against them, since these writers may have had no clear 
occasion to quote or use them. Others among the church 
Fathers we would have expected to deal with these verses, 
if they had known them, since their extant writings gave 
them occasion to do so. The argument from silence may 
be of more weight in their case. Among these we may 
mention Tertullian, Cyril of Jerusalem, Cyprian, Athanasius, 
Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Cyril of Alexandria, and 
Theodoret. 

(5) These verses are not recognized by the Ammonian 
sections or the Eusebian canons. 

(6) A different, shorter, and spurious ending is found 
in some manuscripts and versions. 

(7) A tenth-century manuscript of the Armenian version 
has these twelve verses with a heading, stating that they 
were written by "the elder Ariston." F. C. Conybeare, the 
discoverer of this manuscript, is convinced that here we 
have the real author of these verses named. Casper Rene 
Gregory, Zahn, Resch, and many others are inclined to the 
same opinion. They identify this Ariston with the Aristion 

178 Ad Marin. Quaest., 1, vol. 4. 
179 AdHedib. Qu. 2. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 169 

mentioned by Papias. Papias says that Aristion was a 
disciple of the Lord, from whom he learned many things 
by questioning him. 180 If Aristion wrote these words, his 
authority was just as good as that of Mark, and we ought to 
value this appendix just as highly and print it in our Bibles 
with Aristion's name attached. 

So much for the external evidence against these verses. 
We turn next to the internal evidence against them; and 
many scholars think that this is by far weightier than the 
external evidence is. 

5. Internal Evidence against these verses: (1) In 16. 2 
we find one phrase for the first day of the week, and in 
16. 9 a different one. This may be an indication of a dif- 
ferent author. 

(2) Verse 9 does not follow well upon verse 8. The 
subject of the verb in verse 9 cannot be gathered from 
the immediate context, and surely is not suggested by any- 
thing in verse 8. Verse 9 seems, rather, to have been taken 
from some other context and attached to this. 

(3) In verse 9 Mary Magdalene is introduced as a new 
character. She is described as the woman out of whom 
Jesus had cast seven devils. Now, Mary Magdalene has 
been mentioned three times before in the Gospel without this 
description. Why should this belated identification occur 
at this point? Mary's name is found in the first verse of 
this chapter, and Mark felt no necessity of identifying her 
there. Would he at this place ? Is there not an evidence of 
another hand in this identifying clause? 

(4) We are assured that there are eleven words and two 
phrases in these verses which Mark never uses. The vo- 
cabulary is radically different from his. There are three 
occurrences of the verb "to go" in these verses, nopevofiai, 
a very common verb in the Greek, but strangely enough 
it is not found anywhere in the Gospel according to Mark. 
The demonstrative pronoun kiteivos, "that," is found five 

180 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., iii, 39. 



170 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

times in various forms in these verses, and is used as the 
subject of the verb and in other ways not paralleled any- 
where in the Gospel according to Mark or in the other 
Synoptics. Do these things prove that a new writer with 
a new vocabulary has written this appendix? 

(5) Gould says: "The argument from the general char- 
acter of the section is stronger still. It is the mere sum- 
marizing of the appearances of the Lord. Mark is the most 
vivid and picturesque of the evangelists. He abbreviates 
discourses but amplifies narratives. The first eight verses 
of this chapter are a good example of Mark's style and in 
striking contrast with the rest of the chapter." 181 

There are other arguments adduced against Mark's 
authorship of this appendix, but none of them are more 
conclusive than the ones we have now mentioned, and we 
may allow them to stand as representative of the list. The 
differences in style and vocabulary are regarded by most 
scholars as sufficient to make out a case. 

6. Testimony of Aleph and B. These are our two oldest 
and most valuable manuscripts. Why should not their 
testimony be considered conclusive against these verses? 
Salmon has made a very ingenious argument to show that 
their united testimony is not the testimony of two witnesses 
at this place, and that on the whole their testimony is 
not adverse, but, rather, favorable to the genuineness of 
the appendix. He shows (1) that the same scribe has 
written the close of the Gospel according to Mark in both 
these manuscripts. That would be a most extraordinary 
fact, and it seems almost incredible at first thought. We 
know nothing about the origin of either of these manu- 
scripts, but we know that the Vatican manuscript has been 
lying in the Vatican library for many centuries, and we 
know that the Sinaitic manuscript lay in the Monastery 
of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai through still longer 
centuries. The one was the property of the Roman 

1M Commentary on Mark, p. 303. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 171 

Catholic Church and the other was the property of the 
Greek Catholic Church. One was in the continent of 
Europe and one in the continent of Africa. For more than 
a thousand years the owners of each were wholly uncon- 
scious of the existence of the other. Could it be that the 
same hand had held them both there in the beginning of 
the fourth century, that the same hand had written certain 
of their leaves, and that they afterward had become separ- 
ated so widely? 

When Tischendorf discovered the Sinaitic manuscript 
near the middle of the last century, the whole world re- 
joiced that now we had a manuscript of the New Testament 
of equal antiquity with that in the Vatican library, 
and that upon the authority of these two manuscripts when 
they concurred we could be reasonably sure of a reliable 
text. Tischendorf himself made the discovery that in Aleph 
the leaf at the close of the Gospel according to Mark was 
one of six leaves which were different from the leaves 
of Codex Aleph and were like Codex B. His reasons for so 
thinking are as follows: (a) The shape of certain letters in 
these six leaves and in Codex B is the same, (b) There is 
the same mode of filling up the space at the end of the line. 
(c) The manner of punctuation is the same, (d) The 
manner of referring to an insertion in the margin is the 
same, (e) The arabesques or ornamental finials are the 
same. (/) The words for "man," "son," and "heaven" are 
written in full as in B, and not abbreviated as they are else- 
where in Aleph. (g) The spelling is the same. On these 
six leaves Pilate is spelled with "ei," while elsewhere in 
Aleph it is spelled with "i." John is spelled with one "n," 
while elsewhere in Aleph it is spelled with two. Tischendorf 
and Salmon were sure that such an accumulation of indica- 
tions did not fall short of a demonstration. 

Then, if the same man wrote the close of the Gospel 
according to Mark in both of these most ancient manu- 
scripts, we have no two witnesses against these verses when 



172 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

this single scribe chose to omit them in both, but the omis- 
sion rests upon his sole authority. Did the still more ancient 
manuscripts from which he copied have these verses and 
did he omit them for some reason of his own unknown to 
us, or were the verses lacking in his authorities and did he 
copy his originals faithfully just as they were? It would 
be interesting to have some light upon this matter, if it 
could be found in any way. 

Salmon thinks that it can be found. He points out the 
fact that in Aleph the last column of the Gospel accord- 
ing to Mark which is filled from top to bottom has in it only 
five hundred and sixty letters, while the first column of the 
Gospel according to Luke has six hundred and seventy- 
eight letters. Evidently, for some reason the scribe has 
spread out his writing at the close of Mark so as to fill that 
last column and have thirty-seven letters to carry over into 
a new column. If he had not done so, he would have had a 
whole column blank between the two Gospels at this point. 
Why did he need to spread out his writing in this fashion in 
order to get something for this final column ? Because, says 
Salmon, he was evidently leaving out something which had 
filled this space in the manuscript or manuscripts from 
which he copied. How about the Vatican manuscript? 
There is a blank column following the close of the Gospel 
according to Mark in this manuscript, and it is the only 
blank column in the whole New Testament manuscript! 
What can the explanation of this blank column be? The 
scribe must have known that there was something in the 
original which he chose to leave out. 

Therefore Salmon concludes (2) that both the Sinaitic 
and the Vatican manuscripts, when cross-examined, give 
evidence, not against, but for the disputed verses, and afford 
us reason to believe that in this place these manuscripts do 
not represent the reading of their archetypes, but the critical 
views of the corrector under whose hand both passed. 182 

182 Introduction to the New Testament, p. 148. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 173 

It does not follow, however, that a blank column bears clear 
evidence to a conscious omission. In the Vatican manu- 
script there are two blank columns at the end of Nehemiah 
and a column and a half left blank at the end of Tobit ; and 
nobody suspects that any of the original contents have been 
omitted in either of these places. In the Sinaitic manuscript 
more than two columns and the whole of the next following 
page are left blank at the end of the Pauline Epistles ; and 
at the end of the book of Acts a column and two thirds with 
the whole of the next following page. In the Alexandrian 
manuscript a column and a third are left blank at the end of 
Mark, although it has the appendix, 16. 9-20, in full. No 
one argues that the scribe has consciously omitted something 
additional, because of this blank. In this manuscript half 
a page is also left blank at the end of John and a whole 
page at the end of the Pauline Epistles. These facts show 
that leaving a blank at the end of a book and the size of the 
blank were matters lying wholly at the will of the copyist, 
and therefore we cannot argue with any certainty that the 
blanks in either Aleph or B prove that their scribe knew of 
any other ending than that he has given us. 

7. If we decide either upon the external or the internal 
evidence that these closing verses were not written by Mark, 
how can we explain the abrupt ending of the second Gospel? 
Why did not Mark write some account of the resurrection 
appearances and of the ascension of the Lord? Several sug- 
gestions have been made. They are, of course, nothing but 
guesses in the dark. They represent possibilities and nothing 
more. 

(1) Michaelis, Hug, and others have thought that Mark 
was interrupted when he had written 16. 8 by Peter's im- 
prisonment or martyrdom, or by his own sickness, or by 
some accident. Godet thinks that Mark fled from Rome at 
the time of the unexpected outbreak of the Neronian perse- 
cution and that he left this Gospel behind him unfinished. 
However, if the church tradition is a true one, and Mark 



174 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

lived long years afterward in Alexandria, it would seem 
most improbable that he never would have seen this manu- 
script again and never would have thought it worth while to 
complete the gospel story. We think he must have done so 
at some time. 

(2) Griesbach, Schulthess, Schulz, and others have sug- 
gested that in some way the closing leaf or leaves of the 
original Gospel according to Mark were lost after the death 
of Mark and that the manuscript as it was preserved closed 
at the bottom of a page with 16. 8. Later some one tried to 
supply the omission with an ending written by himself and 
embodying the second century tradition concerning the 
matters he mentioned. This seems more likely than the 
former hypothesis that Mark never wrote any ending for 
the Gospel. However, it seems strange that no copies had 
been made of the original by Mark before it was allowed to 
fall into such a dilapidated state, and that no tradition was 
preserved of the original contents in its verbal accuracy. It 
lies within the range of possibility that some modern ex- 
cavator in Egypt will dig up out of the desert sands for us 
the autograph copy of the original ending as written by 
Mark ! It is a consummation devoutly to be desired. 

8. Conclusions. (1) The genuineness of these twelve 
closing verses is to be seriously doubted. The differences in 
style and vocabulary and other minor phenomena are suffi- 
cient to raise very serious questions as to the possibility of 
their authorship by Mark. Our oldest manuscripts and our 
oldest version omit them. 

(2) They may have been written by Aristion, but we can- 
not be sure of it. In any case, the appendix must be very 
ancient and it represents the apostolic tradition of the second 
century. 

(3) Until the genuine ending by Mark has been discov- 
ered, this appendix ought to be printed in our Bibles with 
a space between it and the Gospel or a note attached declar- 
ing its doubtful authenticity. 



PART III 

"THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK EVER WRITTEN 1 
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 



PART III 

"THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK EVER WRITTEN": 
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 

I. THE AUTHOR 
i. The New Testament Data 

The Gospel according to Luke has been said by Renan to 
be "the most beautiful book ever written." 1 A beautiful 
book is in all probability the product of a beautiful soul. 
The most beautiful book ever written, especially since it 
deals with spiritual themes and is the story of The Perfect 
Life, must have had an author worthy of our most intimate 
acquaintance, a man of noble soul and adequate training, 
interesting to us in every detail of his career and in every 
phase of his character. 

We would like to know all about Homer and all about 
Shakespeare, or at least as much as we know about Martin 
Luther and John Wesley; but the multitude of details con- 
cerning the private and the public life of Luther and Wesley 
utterly fail us when we come to these greatest geniuses of 
our literature. We know comparatively little about the per- 
sonal life of Homer or of Shakespeare, and we know com- 
paratively little about the author of this "most beautiful 
book ever written." Jesus we know, and Peter we know, 
and John we know, and Paul we know, and we know some- 
thing of most of the twelve apostles and of many of the 
deacons and evangelists of the early church; and we owe 
most of our knowledge of these men to the evangelist Luke. 
We owe more of it to him than to any other man who ever 



Renan, Les Evangiles, p. 283, "Cest le plus beau livre qu'il y ait." 

*77 



178 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

lived or wrote about them. But Luke tells us little or 
nothing about himself. He never mentions his own name 
either in the Gospel or in the book of Acts. He makes one 
reference to himself in the use of the personal pronoun in 
the preface to the Gospel, "It seemed good to me also to 
write," 2 and the use of the plural pronouns "we" and "us" 
in the book of Acts has been generally supposed to indicate 
the entrance of Luke himself upon the scene. 

Luke's name, however, appears only three times in the 
New Testament : in Philem. 24, "Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, 
Luke, my fellow workers" salute you; Col. 4. 14, "Luke, the 
beloved physician, and Demas salute you," and 2 Tim. 4. 
10, 11, where after declaring, "Demas forsook me, having 
loved this present world," Paul adds, "Only Luke is with 
me." We notice that in each of these three passages Luke 
and Demas are mentioned together, Demas being a fellow 
worker in the first two passages, but having forsaken Paul 
in the last of them, while Luke alone remained faithful 
and present with him. It is also worth noticing that in the 
immediate context of each of these passages the name of the 
other evangelist and author of a Gospel narrative who was 
not an apostle occurs. Mark is mentioned in Philem. 24; 
Col. 4. 10; and 2 Tim. 4. 11. 

Upon the basis of these three passages in which his name 
occurs what facts may we glean concerning the author of 
the most beautiful book in all literature? 

2. The Name "Luke" 

We begin with the name itself. ( 1 ) "Luke," in the Greek, 
Aovitag, is a very uncommon name. We are told that it is 
not to be found in the writings of any classical author or 
upon any Greek or Latin inscription, and that it does not 
occur before New Testament times. It is a peculiar name, 
distinctive by its very strangeness and in frequency. It 



2 Luke 1. 3. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 179 

seems to be a contracted or shortened form of "Lucanus," in 
the Greek Aov/tavog (which is found in inscriptions), as 
"Apollos" was a shortened form of "Apollonius," and 
"Silas" of "Silvanus." 3 These three men, Lucas, Apollos, 
and Silas, were all friends of the apostle Paul, and in their 
ministry with him they must have been thrown into intimate 
association with each other ; and they all had nicknames, or, 
rather, shortened and abbreviated names by which they 
were called in preference to the full name, which was too 
long for common or familiar use. 4 In the earliest copies of 
the Latin Bible the name "Lucanus" frequently occurs in 
the title of the Gospel, "Cata Lucanum." 

(2) Dean Plumptre has called attention to the fact that 
the only other noted man of this immediate period in history 
who bore the name "Lucanus" was the Latin poet, the 
author of the "Pharsalia," the epic poem which set forth the 
struggle between Julius Caesar and Pompey for the supreme 
power at Rome. 5 Now, this Lucanus was born in the year 
A. D. 39, and therefore he was probably thirty or forty years 
younger than our Luke, the author of the third Gospel. 
Dean Plumptre has made this further most interesting sug- 
gestion: that it is just possible that the poet Lucanus was 
named after the physician Luke. If Luke were a beloved 
physician in the family when the boy Lucanus was born, 
the father and mother may have decided to show their ap- 



3 Ramsay and Deissmann are convinced by recent discoveries 
of inscriptions in Asia Minor that AovkSs is the equivalent of Aovkios, 
which corresponds to the Latin name "Lucius." See Ramsay, The 
Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New 
Testament, chap. xxv. 

* Other examples are: "Amplias" for "Ampliatus" (Rom. 16. 8), 
"Olympas" for "Olympiodorus" (Rom. 16. 15), "Demas" for "De- 
metrius" (Col. 4. 14), "Epaphras" for "Epaphroditus" (Col. 4. 12), 
"Zenas" for "Zenodorus" (Titus 3. 13), "Antipas" for "Antipatris" 
(Rev. 2. 13), "Stephanas" for "Stephanephorus" (1 Cor. 16. 15). 
See Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, ii, p. 83. 

5 Books of the Bible. New Testament, pp. 74, 75. 



i8o THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

preciation of him and his services by naming the child after 
him. Every physician is likely to have namesakes, given 
him in just this way. 

Is there any good reason for supposing that there was any 
personal relation between these two Lukes in this period of 
history? Yes, for if Luke the physician and Lucanus the 
poet were lifelong friends, and the physician was on intimate 
and trusted terms of familiarity with the poet's family, then 
Luke would be sure to make them acquainted with his be- 
loved master, Paul, and through Luke they would be sure 
to hear about and to become more or less interested in Paul's 
preaching and Paul's apostolic career. Have we any indica- 
tions of any such acquaintanceship with or interest in Paul 
on the part of any members of the family of Lucanus ? 

a. In the eighteenth chapter of Acts we read that the 
Jews in Corinth seized the apostle Paul and brought him 
before the proconsul of Achaia, whose name was Gallio, and 
charged him with persuading men to worship God contrary 
to the law. When Paul was about to make answer to that 
charge Gallio interrupted him and told the Jews that if Paul 
had been guilty of any criminal behavior he would try 
him ; but if he were simply preaching a new form of Jewish 
doctrine, that was a matter upon which he did not choose 
to sit in judgment. Then he drove them from the judg- 
ment seat, and they were a most disappointed and angry 
set of men. 6 They had expected Gallio to put Paul in prison 
or to stop his evangelistic work in one way or another. 
They found him seemingly favorable to the prisoner and 
indisposed to interfere in any way with his mission and 
teaching. What was the explanation of this indifference to 
the complaints of the Jews and this willingness to befriend 
their prisoner, Paul? This Gallio was the uncle of Lucanus 
the poet. Had Luke the evangelist told Luke the poet all 
about Paul and his work, and had Luke the poet told his 



Acts 1 8. 12-17. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 181 

uncle Gallic* enough of these things to prejudice him in 
Paul's favor ? That would seem to be possible at least. 

b. Then in the time of Augustine and Jerome fourteen 
letters were extant which were supposed to have passed 
between the Latin philosopher Seneca and the apostle Paul. 
Those which have come down to our day have been pro- 
nounced spurious, but at that time they were believed to be 
genuine, and that very belief bore witness to the fact that 
there was a widespread tradition in the early church that 
there had been some personal acquaintance and intercourse 
between Seneca and Paul. Seneca was an official in the 
court of Nero while Paul was a prisoner at Rome. We 
read that Paul's Gospel became known through the whole 
Praetorian guard, 7 and that certain members of Caesar's 
household were converted, 8 and it is altogether probable 
that Seneca would hear about these things and would be in- 
terested to talk with such a man as Paul had proved him- 
self to be. 

Bishop Lightfoot has written an essay on Saint Paul and 
Seneca, 9 in which he has made a most interesting collection 
of the coincidences in thought and in language to be found 
in the extant and genuine writings of these two men; and 
if these coincidences are not sufficient to prove that the two 
men knew each other and were acquainted with each other's 
views, they go very far, at least, toward making that sup- 
position probable. Now, Seneca was another uncle of 
Lucanus the poet. If Luke the evangelist was on terms of 
intimacy with the members of this family, we could find in 
that fact an explanation of the actual friendliness of 
Gallio and of the traditional friendship of Seneca for the 
apostle Paul. The name of the evangelist Luke, then, un- 
common as it is, and having only one parallel in the history 
of this time, may furnish a suggestive link with the family 

7 Phil. i. 13. 

8 Phil. 4. 22. 

8 Commentary on Philippians, pp. 270-333. 



182 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

of the poet Lucanus and so help us to explain the recorded 
and traditional relations between certain members of this 
family and the apostle Paul. 

3. Luke, the Companion of Paul 

We turn back to the three passages in which Luke's name 
occurs and we find that they all bear witness to another fact 
concerning him, namely, that he was for a part of his life, 
at least, the close companion of the apostle Paul. (1) We 
have noticed that at certain points in the narrative of the 
book of Acts the pronoun "we" occurs. It is understood 
usually that this pronoun marks the entrance of Luke him- 
self upon the scene. If so, Paul finds Luke at Troas and 
takes him, with Timothy and Silas, into Macedonia on the 
first foreign missionary journey from the continent of Asia 
into the continent of Europe. 10 Here Paul seems to have 
left Luke in charge of the church at Philippi, since the pro- 
noun "they" takes the place of the pronoun "we" in Acts 
17. 1 and the narrative following. This was in A. D. 51. 
Seven years later, in A. D. 58, Paul finds Luke again here 
at Philippi, 11 and Luke goes with Paul on his journey to 
Jerusalem. 12 He was with Paul at the time of his arrest 
and went with him to Csesarea. He remained with him dur- 
ing the two years of the Caesarean imprisonment and ac- 
companied him on the voyage to Rome. At the close of the 
narrative of the book of Acts Luke is still with Paul; and 
from 2 Tim. 4. 11 we learn that he was Paul's sole remaining 
companion at the time of the writing of that epistle. He 
probably stayed at his master's side to the day of Paul's 
martyrdom. 

Are there any other Scriptures, except these passages in 
which his name occurs or the pronoun "we" discloses his 
presence, in which we may have any glimpse of Luke's min- 

10 Acts 16. 10. This was the second missionary journey of Paul. 
"Acts 20. 5, 6. 
"Acts 21. 15-18, 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 183 

istry? (2) It has been suggested by Epiphanius 13 that Luke 
was one of the seventy sent out by our Lord as the fore- 
runners in his village ministry. 14 Probably the only reason 
for such a suggestion is that Luke is the only one of the 
synoptics who has made any extended record of this evan- 
gelistic tour. 

(3) Theophylact 15 thought that Luke was the unnamed 
companion of Cleopas in his walk to Emmaus on the resur- 
rection day. This narrative too is peculiar to the third 
Gospel; but if Luke were a Gentile, as we shall have reason 
to conclude, that fact would rule out either of these possi- 
bilities. The seventy were, of course, all Jews; and the 
companion of Cleopas and resident of his home was a Jew- 
ess or a Jew. 

(4) It has been conjectured that Luke was one of the 
Greeks who asked to be introduced to Jesus at the time of 
the last feast in Jerusalem, 16 but even this suggestion does 
not seem to come within the realm of possibility, for Luke 
declares in the preface to his Gospel that he is about to 
record what eyewitnesses had reported to him, and thus 
clearly places himself among those who were wholly de- 
pendent upon tradition for what they knew of the gospel 
story. If he had been an eyewitness himself at any point, 
he surely would have claimed firsthand authority for his 
narrative in that place. He makes no such claim. We con- 
clude, therefore, that he belonged to the second generation 
of believers and that he himself never saw Jesus. 

(5) However, in 2 Cor. 8. 18, 19, Paul speaks of some 
brother whose praise in the gospel was spread through all 
the churches and who had been appointed by the churches 
to travel with him, collecting money for the poor saints in 
Jerusalem. This unnamed brother may have been Luke. 

" Bishop of Salamis, in Cyprus, Adv. Haer., 377 A. D. 
"Luke 10. 1-20. 

16 Archbishop of Albanians and Bulgarians, 1077 A. D. 
18 John 12. 20, 



i«4 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

He traveled with Paul on so many other occasions, and he 
went with Paul when this collection was finally carried to 
Jerusalem. If he had labored in its gathering, he deserved 
to have some share in its distribution ; or he may have been 
intrusted to see it safely to its destination. Anyway, we are 
sure from our Scriptures that Luke was the close and con- 
genial companion of the apostle Paul. 

They must have liked each other, because they were like 
spirits. They were both educated men, with scholarly 
habits and with literary and cultured tastes. They were 
great-hearted, liberal-minded, broad-spirited. They must 
have influenced and strengthened each other in the develop- 
ment of their natural tendencies. They probably were 
about the same age, and they must have been drawn to 
each other from their first meeting, and their continued 
and lifelong friendship proved their perfect congeniality. 
Philip Schafr* thinks that they were foreordained to be 
comrades, 17 and he points out other notable friendships 
in church history, at the time of the Reformation between 
Luther and Melanchthon, Zwingli and QEcolampadius, Cal- 
vin and Beza, Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley; and in the 
eighteenth century between the two Wesleys and Whitefield ; 
and then in this same apostolic period between Peter and 
Mark. The Master sent out the apostles in the beginning 
two by two; and this recognized necessity for companion- 
ship and encouragement in the formative period of the 
church has manifested itself in all the great creative periods 
in church history since that time. 

No one ever will be able to estimate how much service 
to the cause of Christ these congenial companionships be- 
tween Christian colaborers have been. It may be that we 
owe to them the very existence of two of our four Gospels. 
Two of these Gospels were written by apostles — that accord- 
ing to Matthew and that according to John. The other 
two were written by the two congenial companions of 

17 History of the Christian Church, vol. i, p. 649. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 185 

the two greatest apostles, Peter and Paul. It is usually 
supposed that Mark's record of the life of Jesus was 
the first to be written, and that it was in some sense a 
summary of the teaching and preaching of Peter, whose 
interpreter and companion and "son" in the gospel 
Mark was. 18 Peter and Mark were both men of sanguine 
temperament. They were both men of restless energy, 
ready to jump at conclusions rather than to take time to 
reason them out. They were both liable to make mistakes, 
and they were both ready to repent as soon as they realized 
that a mistake had been made. Paul never could have en- 
dured steady companionship with a man like John Mark. 
He would rather part company with Barnabas than keep 
company with him. 19 But Peter and Mark were a con- 
genial pair, and the Gospel record written by Mark repre- 
sents these two men in its general characteristics, brief, 
energetic, full of action, and unliterary as it is. On the con- 
trary, the Gospel written by Luke is the longest and the most 
literary of the Gospels. It was the product of the cultured 
and congenial companion of the apostle Paul. Possibly, 
however, there was a still better or more imperative rea- 
son than mere personal pleasure in comradeship to account 
for the close connection existing for years between the 
apostle Paul and his traveling companion, Luke. 

4. Luke, the Physician 

We turn again to Col. 4. 14 and we find that Paul not 
only calls Luke "beloved," but his "beloved physician," and 
we recall that just before Luke joined Paul at Troas in that 
first missionary advance into the continent of Europe Paul 
had been suffering from some infirmity of the flesh in 
Galatia, 20 and it may well have been that he was dreading a 
recurrence of that experience and asked Luke to go along 

18 1 Pet. s. 13. 
18 Acts 15. 37-40. 
"Gal. 4. 13. 



186 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

with him to help to ward it off or to care for him if he were 
again disabled by it. We recall also that when Luke rejoins 
Paul at Philippi and accompanies him on the last voyage to 
Jerusalem it is just after Paul has been suffering again from 
an affliction in which he had even despaired of his life. 21 
From this time on Luke remains constantly at his side. 
Paul doubtless needed the continuous attention of a physi- 
cian during these closing years of his life. 

Luke was an attendant physician, but, more than that, he 
was Paul's beloved companion and friend. That fact throws 
a deal of light upon his character and goes far to make him 
a model for all men in his profession. Luke must have 
been thoroughly competent, or Paul would not have trusted 
him. We want the men into whose hands we put the preser- 
vation of our lives to have the best education which the 
schools can furnish them and plenty of practical experience 
before they begin to make any experiments upon us. Now, 
the best medical education in Paul's day was to be found 
among the Greeks, and all of the great medical authorities 
among the Greeks whose works are extant were Greeks of 
Asia Minor. Hippocrates can scarcely be called an excep- 
tion, for he was born and lived on the island of Cos, off the 
coast of Caria. Galen came from Pergamus in Mysia, 
Dioscorides from Anazarba in Cilicia, and Aretaeus from 
Cappadocia. These were the great masters in the medical 
profession, and they were all Asiatic Greeks. 

The great university in Asia Minor in Luke's day was sit- 
uated at Tarsus, which was the home of Paul. There was 
no other place in Asia Minor or in the world of that day 
where Luke could get as good a medical education as he 
could at Tarsus. If he went to school there, he may have 
met Paul either in the university or on the streets of that 
city; and if they became schoolboy friends and discovered 
their congeniality of spirit in those early days before either 
of them had been converted to the Christian faith, it would 

M 2 Cor. J. 9- 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 187 

go far to explain their immediate union of fortunes and 
communion of interests when they met in after years at 
Troas. Paul knew that Luke was a thoroughly educated 
and competent physician and was willing to trust the treat- 
ment of his case in his hands without any hesitation. If 
he had known Luke in Tarsus in early youth, and had 
known all about his university training there, at Troas he 
would learn all about Luke's experience as a physician in the 
long years which had elapsed since those university days. 

It has been suggested that Luke must have practiced 
medicine, for a time at least, on one of the vessels plying up 
and down the Mediterranean, since he shows such an ac- 
curate acquaintance with technical nautical terms in his 
description of the voyage and the shipwreck in the twenty- 
seventh chapter of the book of Acts. We already have 
found reason to suppose that he may have been the trusted 
physician in the family of Lucanus the poet, and so have 
come into contact with such men as Gallio and Seneca. He 
may have been the physician as well as the friend of Theo- 
philus, the man for whom he wrote his two volumes of 
history; and this Theophilus must have been a man of in- 
fluence and prominence in the Christian Church of the early 
days. We shall see later that Luke may have had confiden- 
tial relations as physician with certain members of the royal 
court in Palestine. All the indications agree in leading us 
to the conclusion that Luke had had a varied and an unusu- 
ally successful career as a physician after leaving school and 
before joining Paul at Troas. 

He had had most excellent training in the beginning, and 
now he had years of experience behind him. He was no 
longer young and untried. Paul was more ready to trust 
him on that account. 

Luke was a Greek, of the race of ^sculapius and Hip- 
pocrates. He had the Greek gift of a joyous disposition, a 
pleasant manner, a lovable personality. He was the be- 
loved physician because of his personal character. Paul 



188 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

loved him, however, not only because he was a trained and 
trusted and agreeable physician, but also because he was a 
Christian, a missionary, an evangelist. His praise was in 
all the churches for his good work in all these fields. He 
was beloved for his medical skill and for his ever aggressive 
and ever attractive Christianity. He might well be a model 
for all in the medical profession. There is a Latin stanza 
which appraises his worth in this twofold capacity as fol- 
lows: 

"Lucas, Evangelii et medicinae munera pandens; 

Artibus hinc, illinc religione, valet : 
Utilis ille labor, per quern vixere tot segri; 
Utilior, per quem tot didicere moril" 22 

5. Luke, the Musician 

Have we now the complete picture of Luke the beloved 
physician as far as the Scriptures can help us to form one? 
Are there any other personal characteristics of which they 
make us reasonably sure? When we turn to Luke's own 
writings I think they will testify to at least one more feature 
of Luke's equipment as a physician and as an evangelist. 

He was a man who was fond of music. He is the first 
great Christian hymnologist. He has preserved for us five 
great hymns of the early church. He is the only evangelist 
who has done that. His gospel narrative begins with hymns 
and ends with praises. Now, music and medicine always 
go well together and singing and salvation always have 
gone hand in hand. 

The Old Testament was full of singing and it has a hymn 
book in its heart. Luke believed that those Old Testa- 
ment hymns could be adapted to Christian uses. He car- 
ries the hymnology of the Old Testament church over into 
the New. He is the father and the founder of Christian 
hymnology. Bishop Keble says of Luke : 



Schaff, op. cit., p. 648. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 189 

"Thou hast an ear for angel songs, 

A breath the gospel trump to fill, 
And taught by thee the church prolongs, 
Her hymns of high thanksgiving still." 

He shows us how the very beginning of the Christian era 
was ushered in with songs, and how the Christian Church 
sang its way through its earliest triumphs. When Paul 
and Silas had been cast into the inner prison and their feet 
were made fast in the stocks, at midnight they sang praises 
unto God until an earthquake opened their prison doors and 
everyone's bands were loosed. We often have wondered 
if those hymns which Paul and Silas sang were not com- 
posed by Luke. Timothy and Luke were with Paul and 
Silas there at Philippi. They may have been keeping their 
midnight vigil just outside the prison walls, and when they 
heard the prisoners singing some of Luke's gospel hymns 
they knew that imprisonment had not daunted the spirits 
of those apostles of God's grace. 

Luke was full of music himself. He collected and recorded 
the first Christian hymns. He gave Paul medicine when he 
needed it, and when all medicines had failed, like another 
David before another Saul, he ministered to him in melody 
until his physical ills and his spiritual wounds were all 
healed. He must have been a versatile genius, this man 
Luke, ready to serve and able to serve according to any 
man's need. No wonder that he was beloved by all, and his 
praise was in all the churches. 

6. Luke, the Artist 

From church tradition we may add another accomplish- 
ment to this many-sided man. Dante Gabriel Rossetti has 
put this church tradition into his lines : 

"Give honor unto Luke, evangelist, 
For he it was, the ancient legends say, 
Who first taught Art to fold her hands and pray."* 8 



Sonnet lxxiv. In the House of Life. 



190 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Luke was said to have painted the portrait of the Virgin. 24 
The oldest witness to this fact is Theodorus Lector, who 
was reader in the Church of Constantinople in the sixth 
century. He tells us that the Empress Eudoxia found at 
Jerusalem a picture of the God-Mother painted by Luke the 
apostle and she presented it to her daughter, Pulcheria, the 
wife of Theodosius II, about 440 A. D. In the Capella 
Paolina, in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, at Rome, 
a very ancient picture is preserved, a portrait of the Virgin 
ascribed to Luke. It can be traced back to A. D. 847, and 
it may be much older than that. 

In the catacombs there is an inscription referring to a 
rude painting of the Virgin as "one of seven painted by 
Luca." This inscription may be the source of the later 
traditions. Or they may all have sprung from the fact that, 
as Plummer says: "Luke has had a great influence upon 
Christian art, of which in a real sense he may be called the 
founder. The Shepherd with the Lost Sheep on His 
Shoulder/ one of the earliest representations of Christ, 
comes from Luke 15 ; and both mediaeval and modern artists 
have been specially fond of representing those scenes which 
are described by Luke alone: the annunciation, the visit of 
Mary to Elisabeth, the shepherds, the manger, the presenta- 
tion in the temple, Simeon and Anna, Christ with the doc- 
tors, the woman at the supper of Simon the Pharisee, 
Christ weeping over Jerusalem, the walk to Emmaus, the 
good Samaritan, the prodigal son. Many other scenes which 
are favorites with painters might be added from the 
Acts." 25 Luke, says Philip Schaff, "is the painter of 
Christus Salvator and Christus Consolator." 26 

He may not have been an artist with his brush, but we 
know that he was an artist with his pen. He composed a 
book which a competent critic declares to be the most beauti- 

24 Plummer, International Critical Commentary on Luke, p. xxii. 

25 Plummer, op.cit., p. xxii. 

26 Schaff, op. cxi., p. 660. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 191 

ful book ever written. In it he has portrayed the Virgin 
Mary and her Sinless Son and many other characters most 
beautiful and rare. He had an artist's soul. He loved the 
good and beautiful and true. He may have used the artist's 
tools. It would make him a very versatile genius indeed, if 
he were a competent physician and an accomplished musi- 
cian and a painter of pictures besides. But we have known 
just such versatile men again and again in the course of the 
centuries. Luke may have been one of them. We know 
that he was an extraordinary man in many respects ; and we 
know that if he never put any portraits on canvas, he has 
put them on his written page with such artistic excellence 
that he may safely be said to be the founder of Christian art. 

7. Luke, the Gentile 

We have suggested that Luke was in all probability a Gen- 
tile. Our reasons for so concluding are not absolutely com- 
pelling ones. They seem to establish the dominant prob- 
ability in the case. They are as follows: (1) Luke's name 
is Greek. 

(2) His style is more like that of a Greek than a Jew. 
Philip ScharT declares that his writing is admirably suited 
to the Greek taste, and that the prologue to the Gospel would 
at once captivate the refined Hellenic ear by its classic 
construction. He compares it with the prologues of Hero- 
dotus and Thucydides and concludes that Luke's prologue is 
unsurpassed for brevity, modesty, and dignity. 27 Of no 
other writer in the New Testament could such statements 
be made; and the easy conclusion is that Luke could write 
so much better Greek because he himself was a Greek. 

(3) In Col. 4. 10-14 Paul sends the salutations of Aris- 
tarchus, Mark, and Jesus Justus to the Colossians; and he 
says of them, "These are of the circumcision." Then he goes 
on to send the salutations of Epaphras, Luke, and Demas, 
as if these were not included among those of the circumci- 

17 Schaff. op. cit., pp. 656, 664. 



192 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

sion whose salutations he sent first. If we could be sure that 
there was an intentional distinction here, as there certainly 
seems to be, it would settle the matter that Luke was indeed 
a Gentile by birth. If we so conclude, we have in Luke the 
only Gentile among the writers of the New Testament 
books. It would be interesting if we could decide not only 
that Luke was a Gentile, but also to what part of the Gentile 
world he belonged. 

8. Luke, Citizen of Antioch 

All indications seem to point to Antioch of Syria as his 
home. We list a few of these: (i) Eusebius 28 says that 
Luke belonged to an Antiochian family. 

(2) Jerome 29 tells us explicitly that Luke was a physician 
of Antioch, and a preface to the Gospel, written, as Harnack 
thinks, in the third century, says that Luke was by nation 
a Syrian of Antioch. 

(3) In the book of Acts Luke names the seven deacons 
appointed over the church of Jerusalem and locates only one 
of them, and he is "Nicolas of Antioch." 30 Why was 
Nicolas given this location? Was it because Luke had 
known him at Antioch and was proud of the fact that one 
of his fellow citizens had been appointed to such an office, 
and therefore considered it well worth his recording? James 
Smith points out the coincidence that of eight accounts of 
the Russian campaign of 181 2, three written by Frenchmen 
and three written by Englishmen never mention the fact that 
the Russian General Barclay de Tolly was of Scotch extrac- 
tion ; but the two accounts of that campaign written by the 
two Scotchmen, Scott and Alison, both mention it. It was of 
more importance to them; at least it was of sufficient im- 
portance to seem to them to be well worth chronicling. 

(4) Luke seems to be well acquainted with the history 

28 Ecclesiastical History, iii, 4, 7. 

29 De Viris Illustribus, vii. 
'"Acts 6. 5. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 193 

of the church at Antioch and gives us an unusually full ac- 
count of its pastors and teachers and their enterprises and 
their trials. He makes the church at Antioch the mother of 
all the Gentile churches; and he says that the Christians 
were first called by that name in Antioch. Luke seems to be 
well acquainted with all the controversies in the church in 
this city. It is to Antioch that Barnabas summons Saul, 
and in their labors together in the synagogues of Antioch 
they are made ready for their advance upon the Gentile 
world. It is from Antioch that Barnabas and Saul are sent 
forth to their great missionary campaigns ; and it is to An- 
tioch that they return to make their reports. Such records 
as we find in Acts 11. 19-30, and 13. 1-3, and 15. 1-3, 30-40 
lead us to suppose that Luke must have been resident in 
Antioch and that he was personally acquainted with the 
events which he has narrated at such comparatively unusual 
length. 

(5) There is a reading peculiar to Codex Bezae, which 
was known to Augustine, and which was accepted by him 
as genuine and of good authority, and which would go far 
to settle this probability of Luke's residence in Antioch if 
we adopted it, for it would represent the first occurrence of 
the pronoun "we" in the narrative and would locate the 
narrator in Antioch. After Acts II. 27, which reads, "Now 
in these days there came down prophets from Jerusalem 
unto Antioch," Codex Bezae has the following statement: 
"And there was great rejoicing; and when we were gathered 
together one of them named Agabus stood up," and so on. 
According to this reading, Luke was a member of the church 
at Antioch at this time. If so, Luke probably was among 
the very first Gentile converts to Christianity in Antioch. 
He was one of the Hellenists converted before Barnabas or 
Paul had reached Antioch, and we can imagine how heartily 
he would have welcomed his old school friend and how 
cordially their association in Christian work would have 
begun at this time and place. 



194 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

(6) There is still another indication of Luke's connection 
with Antioch. He dedicates both his books to the "most 
honorable Theophilus." Now, the Clementines tell us that 
Theophilus was a wealthy citizen of Antioch. He probably- 
held some official position there. The title which Luke gives 
him is the title given to the governors Felix and Festus in 
the book of Acts, 31 and it may be reserved for those who 
are employed in the government service, and for these alone. 
Then the better translation of the title would be, "most 
honorable" or "most noble." This Theophilus was a wealthy 
man and a Christian man, and it may be that he was Luke's 
literary patron and furnished him the leisure and the 
financial backing necessary for the publication of his two 
volumes of history. 

9. Luke, the Freedman 

Some have thought that Luke was a freedman. The 
reasons suggested for such a conclusion are: (1) It was a 
custom among both the Greeks and the Romans to educate 
some one of their domestic slaves in the medical profession, 
and if he proved expert in it, it was not an unusual thing for 
them to grant him his freedom in return for his services. A 
large number of the physicians of that day are said to have 
belonged to this class. 

(2) Such names as Luke's, contractions in as, as "Lucas" 
for "Lucanus," we are told, were peculiarly common in the 
names of slaves. Luke was a man of broad sympathies for 
all the down-trodden and the poor, as his writings well show. 
Did he learn this sympathy for all the wretched ones when 
he was a slave, and in all his after life of freedom did he 
never lose his memory of their need? And was it therefore 
one of his chief delights in the gospel that in his conception 
of it its first and chief mission was to preach good tidings to 



81 Acts 23. 26; 24. 3; 26. 25. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 195 

the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and to set at 
liberty them that are bruised ? 32 

If Luke began life as a slave, he must have made the most 
of all the opportunities offered him, and very early in life 
he must have proved himself worthy of freedom ; and in his 
later life, with his scientific and professional training, he 
was a worthy and beloved associate of those other university 
graduates, Paul and Apollos, and possibly Barnabas. Of 
all the first preachers of the gospel these alone would seem 
to have had the advantages of the schools, and most 
naturally they drifted together and found the greatest pleas- 
ure in each other's congenial companionship. College men 
are birds of a feather, and, unless there be some personal 
reason to the contrary, they are sure to flock together; and 
if they do so, their service to any cause they may espouse is 
usually found to be the most efficient service it can muster. 

Barnabas was the great reconciler in the infant church. 
Apollos was the great orator ; and if he wrote the Epistle to 
the Hebrews, he added the finest literary composition to the 
books of the New Testament. Paul was the church organ- 
izer and pioneer missionary and systematic theologian with- 
out a peer. Luke was the author of the most beautiful 
book ever written and the incomparable historian of the 
early church. It would seem that Christianity could not 
have gotten along very well in the beginning without these 
four college men, as it has not been able to get along very 
well at any time since without the leadership of men of the 
highest education. Three of these men, Barnabas, Paul, and 
Luke, possibly met each other for the first time in the Uni- 
versity of Tarsus; and their friendship formed in college 
may have had much to do with the shaping of their future 
lives. Apollos came from the rival school at Alexandria; 
but when he became a Christian he was admitted to their 
circle without question as a man of culture and refinement, 



Luke 4. 18. 



196 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

and therefore sure to furnish serviceable and congenial com- 
panionship. 

10. Luke in Later Tradition 

The later church traditions concerning Luke do not date 
farther back than the fourth century, A. D. Epiphanius 
tells us that after Paul's death Luke preached in Italy and 
in Gaul and in Dalmatia and in Macedonia. 33 We are told 
that he lived to the age of seventy-four or eighty-four. 
One account says that he was finally crucified in the Pelo- 
ponnesus, at Eleasa, on an olive tree. Another account says 
that he died a natural death in Bithynia. Later we read 
that his bones were brought from Patras in Achaia by the 
order of the emperor Constantine and were buried in the 
Church of the Apostles in Constantinople, in 357 A. D. 

11. An Outline Biography 

We have now before us all the facts and all the inferences 
and traditions out of which it might be possible to con- 
struct an ideal biography of the evangelist Luke. Shall 
we make the attempt to outline his career upon the basis of 
these? We shall remember all the cautions suggested by 
Zahn when he says : "The imagination has a place in histor- 
ical science only in so far as it serves to set in a clear light 
the possibility and probability of the presuppositions which 
are demanded by the actual facts. Nor has the imagination 
any rights over against a tradition, be this as meager as it 
may, until it is shown that the latter is without basis in fact, 
and therefore false. Finally, the imagination must guard 
itself carefully against postulates which have possible sup- 
port only in the narrow experience of scholars whose vision 
is bounded by the four walls of a study." 34 Within these 
legitimate limits and availing ourselves of the material in 
hand we suggest the following particulars : 



83 Haer. 51. 

**Zahn, op. cit., ii, p. 376. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 197 

1. Luke was born a slave boy in the household of Theo- 
philus, a wealthy government official in Antioch. He grew 
up into most engaging appearance and most attractive per- 
sonality. He was of a peculiarly acute intellect and of a 
most obliging disposition. He won his master's confidence 
and then his personal liking. Theophilus decided to educate 
the boy at his own expense and at the best university in the 
land. So it was that the second capital event in the life of 
Luke was his matriculation at Tarsus. 

2. Here he studied medicine, where the great masters in 
that profession, Aretaeus, Dioscorides, and Athenaeus, had 
been educated. Just a few miles away at iEgse stood the 
great Temple of ^Esculapius, which furnished the nearest 
approach to the modern hospital to be found in the ancient 
world. From the university lectures Luke got the theory of 
medicine; in the Temple of ^Esculapius he got the practice 
and experience he needed. He made the acquaintance of 
Barnabas and Saul here, and laid the foundations for a 
lifelong friendship with these men. 

3. His education completed, he returned to Antioch and 
rendered faithful and most successful service in his master's 
family. Then the gospel was preached at Antioch by men 
of Cyprus and Cyrene, fleeing from the persecution in Jeru- 
salem; and Luke was among the first to hear it and to ac- 
cept it. He told his master, Theophilus, about it, and 
Theophilus himself became interested and at last converted. 
Then about the first thing Theophilus did as a Christian was 
to give Luke his freedom. 

4. The first impulse of the freedman Luke was to get 
away from all the scenes of his servitude and to test his 
new-found liberty by wandering far and wide at his own 
sweet will. He shipped as a physician upon one of the 
vessels plying up and down the Mediterranean, and there 
he had manifold experiences. His outlook was broad- 
ened as he saw more of the world. He was of service to 
many people and he made many friends. 



198 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

5. On one of his voyages he met some members of the 
family of Lucanus, the poet, and they persuaded him to ac- 
company them to their home in Corduba in Spain. Luke 
was there when the poet was born, and the baby boy was 
named after him. In this household he became acquainted 
with Gallio and Seneca and many other notable men. The 
slave boy had risen to a considerable height, for his natural 
ability and his excellent education and his goodness of heart 
enabled him to converse with the best of men as their equal, 
and as a freedman and physician he was admitted to terms 
of intimacy which otherwise would have been impossible. 

6. In due time he came back to Antioch and was resident 
there when many of the stirring events which he narrates 
in the history of its Christian Church took place. 

7. Later he removed to Troas and settled there, where 
Paul found him on his second missionary journey. He went 
with Paul to Philippi, and was left in charge of the church 
in that city for seven years. 

8. He left Philippi with Paul in A. D. 58, and remained 
with Paul thereafter until the apostle's martyrdom. 

9. Some time after this event he wrote the third Gospel 
and the book of Acts for Theophilus, and he fully intended 
to write a third volume continuing the history, but he was 
swept away into the tide of Christian evangelism and never 
found the leisure to do it. 

10. He labored as an evangelist in many lands, and in a 
ripe old age he fell on sleep and was buried somewhere in 
Greece. 

11. Luke was one of the most respected and best-beloved 
members of the early church. His praise was in all the 
churches. All women liked him and all men honored him. 
Apollos and he were the most accomplished writers, and 
Paul and he were the most prolific writers of the New 
Testament times. Take the writings of Luke and Paul 
out of the New Testament and it would be less than half its 
present size; and of the larger half of the present con- 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 199 

tents of the New Testament Luke wrote more than Paul. 
He was a most versatile man — a physician, a musician, a 
painter, a poet, a preacher, a prolific author, an intrepid mis- 
sionary — a man with many gifts and many friends and mani- 
fold accomplishment. His biography was a romance. His 
books are invaluable. Both he and they are worth our 
knowing and knowing well. 

II. Sources of the Gospel 

Luke was not an eyewitness of the events in the gospel 
history. Where did he get his information concerning these 
things he has recorded ? We turn to the beginning words of 
the Gospel to find what he himself has to say about it. We 
find that Luke appeals both to documentary authorities and 
to personal witnesses, 35 and we ask, 1, What were Luke's 
documents ? 

We think we can distinguish a few of them. (1) After 
the introduction explaining the authority and the aims of 
the book, the first two chapters of the third Gospel are full 
of Hebraic expressions and differ so widely in style and 
general character from the remainder of the Gospel that 
almost all scholars have concluded that they are translations 
from the Aramaic, and probably represent two or three 
written sources. We may find the conclusions of these 
fragments at 1. 80; 2. 40; and 2. 52. 

(2) The genealogy in 3. 23-38 must have been taken, of 
course, from some legal or tribal or temple document. 

(3) It does not seem probable that Luke was acquainted 
with our Gospel according to Matthew either in the Greek 
or in the Hebrew. It is possible that he did not know the 
Gospel according to Mark in its present form. We know, 
however, that Mark was at Rome with Paul in A. D. 64, 
according to Col. 4. 10 and Philem. 24. We know, further, 
that Luke was there at the same time. 36 When we notice, 

33 Luke 1. 1-4. 
86 Col. 4. 14. 



200 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

therefore, that there are certain portions of Luke's narrative 
which are paralleled in Mark's account and which are 
not to be found in the Gospel according to Matthew, 
the most natural and adequate explanation of these par- 
allels between Mark and Luke would be found in the per- 
sonal association of these two men at Rome, where they 
could compare notes of material already collected. Of 
these passages in Luke, not to be found in Matthew, but 
paralleled in Mark and possibly derived from manuscript 
notes made by Mark himself, we may mention the story of 
the demoniac healed in the synagogue on the Sabbath, 37 
the journey through Galilee, 38 the prayer of the demo- 
niac, 39 the complaint of John against the man who would not 
follow them, but who would persist in casting out devils, 
nevertheless, 40 and the women bringing spices to the sepul- 
cher. 41 

2. Among the eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word 
from whom Luke could have obtained some information we 
may be sure of some, at least, (i) As a physician Luke 
would come into confidential relations with many women, 
and as the women who ministered to Jesus and had had 
personal experiences with him during the course of his min- 
istry came to know Luke and to like him and trust him 
they could tell him some of those things concerning women 
and their relation to Jesus which Luke alone has pre- 
served for us. Such facts as we find in Luke 7. 36-50; 
8. 2, 3; 10. 38-42; 11. 2j\ 23. 27-29, 49, 56 must have come 
from the women themselves. 

(2) Luke seems to have had some special source of in- 
formation concerning matters pertaining to the court of 
Herod. The information given us in such passages as 

n Luke 4- 33-37- 
"4. 43, 44. 
w 8. 38. 

"9. 49- 
"24. 1. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 201 

8. 3; 13. 32; 2^. 5-12 is to be found in Luke's narrative 
alone. We read in Acts 13. 1 that Paul and his companions, 
among whom Luke may have been one, were associated with 
Manaen, the foster brother of Herod. It is easy to conclude 
that all inside information concerning Herod and his court 
came to Paul or to Luke through him. Sanday, however, is 
inclined to think that Luke's informant in these things was 
a woman, and he identifies her with Joanna, the wife 
of Chuza, Herod's steward, who was one of the women 
ministering of her substance to Jesus and his company, 42 
and one of the group at the tomb on the resurrection morn- 
ing. 43 Sanday thinks that she may have been Mary's con- 
fidante and the one who wrote down Mary's account of the 
Annunciation which Luke afterward used in his Gospel. 44 

(3) In Acts 21. 16 we are told that Luke lodged while 
at Jerusalem with Mnason of Cyprus, who had been a dis- 
ciple from the beginning. Here, then, was another who 
could give him original information concerning many things. 

(4) There must have been many other early disciples 
whom Luke met at various times. He may have met Peter 
and Barnabas at Antioch. He surely would meet James and 
the elders of the church when he came with Paul to Jeru- 
salem. 

(5) During the two years of Paul's imprisonment in 
Caesarea Luke became acquainted with Philip the evangelist 
and his daughters. All they knew as to the facts of Christ's 
life they would gladly share with Luke. 

(6) At Caesarea Luke was only fifty miles from Jeru- 
salem, and there was a good road between the two cities; 
and he was only two days' journey from the shores of Lake 
Gennesaret. A man bent upon tracing accurately from the 
first the course of events in the life of the Lord hardly 
could have failed to visit these places, and, exploring among 

42 Luke 8. 3. 

"Luke 24. 10. 

44 Expository Times, xiv, p. 299. 



202 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

them and on into Persea, Luke could have picked up such 
items of information as we find in 7. 11-17; 24. 13-35 an d 
many things in the Peraean ministry which we find recorded 
nowhere else. 

We do not know what Luke was doing during the two 
years of Paul's imprisonment at Csesarea, but we may be 
sure that he was employing his time well; and what more 
congenial employment could he have found than the gather- 
ing of materials for a narrative of the things which had been 
fulfilled in that vicinity in the founding of the Christian 
Church? He could interview any number of eyewitnesses 
and he could trace the course of all things accurately from 
the first in personal investigation. Did he write the Gospel 
at this time? 

III. Date of the Gospel 

There are those who think that Luke must have written 
the third Gospel either during Paul's imprisonment at 
Csesarea or the immediately succeeding imprisonment at 
Rome. The following authorities agree that the narrative 
as we have it was written before or about A. D. 63 : Alford, 
Ebrard, Farrar, Gloag, Godet, Guericke, Hofmann, Home, 
Hug, Keil, Lange, Lardner, Lumby, Michaelis, SchafT, Tho- 
luck, Thomson, Wieseler, and others. They say: 1. The 
Gospel according to Luke must have been written before 
the book of Acts, and the book of Acts does not say any- 
thing about the death of Paul, and the close of its narrative 
seems to coincide with the date of Luke's writing. There- 
fore both the Gospel and the book of Acts were written be- 
fore the date of Paul's martyrdom. 2. When Luke tells us 
about the prophecy of the famine made by Agabus in Acts 
11. 28 he is careful to add that the prophecy was fulfilled 
in the days of Claudius, 44-48 A. D. ; but when he tells us 
about the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem made by 
Jesus, in Luke 21. 5-36, he does not say that that prophecy 
was fulfilled. He surely would have done so if he had been 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 203 

writing later than A. D. 70. He does not do so because the 
destruction of the capital city had not yet taken place. 

However, many other authorities think that we must 
decide upon a later date for the composition of the third 
Gospel. They point out the following facts: I. We must 
allow time for a large number of people to draw up narra- 
tives concerning the sayings and doings of Jesus. 

2. Twice in the Gospel 45 Luke puts the name of John 
before that of his brother James in naming the two together. 
Matthew and Mark never do that. They always put James 
first. This seems to be an indication that Luke wrote at 
a later period than the other two synoptists, and at a time 
when James had died or when for some other reason John 
was being recognized as the more prominent or influential 
of the two. 

3. The prophecies concerning the destruction of Jeru- 
salem as recorded in Luke are much more definite than the 
parallel prophecies in Matthew and Mark. Even though 
Luke does not say that these prophecies had been fulfilled, 
their greater definiteness bears witness to that fact. After 
the event the details of the sayings of Jesus concerning it 
were remembered more vividly and recorded more accu- 
rately. 

4. In the midst of these prophecies in Matthew and Mark 
the evangelists have inserted a note of warning to their 
readers — "Let him that readeth understand." 46 Luke 
omits this clause, the time for such warning having gone by. 

5. The designation of Jesus as "Lord," not found at all in 
Mark and only occasionally in Matthew, is more frequent 
in Luke. This seems to be a mark of later date, when this 
title was becoming more common among the disciples. 
Among those who believe that the Gospel was written after 
the death of Paul and after the destruction of Jerusalem 



45 8. 51 and 9. 28. 

"Matt. 24. 15; Mark 13. 14. 



204 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

and in the later old age of Luke, we may mention Beyschlag, 
Bleek, Cook, Credner, De Wette, Holtzmann, Ewald, 
Julicher, Meyer, Plummer, Ramsay, Renan, Reuss, Sanday, 
Schenkel, and Weiss. 

IV. Place of Writing 

Jerome says that Luke wrote the Gospel in Achaia and 
Boeotia. Godet selects the city of Corinth as the most likely 
place. Ewald, Holtzmann, Hug, Keim, and Zeller guess 
that the Gospel was written at Rome; Michaelis, Kuinoel, 
Schott, Thiersch, and Tholuck at Caesarea; Hilgenfeld in 
Asia Minor ; and Kostlin at Ephesus. In the Peshito version 
the title reads, "The Gospel of Luke the evangelist, which 
he published and preached in Greek in Alexandria the 
Great." Plummer says there is no evidence for or against 
any of these places. Weiss adds that "all conjectures as to 
the place of composition are quite visionary and have no 
value whatever." Under these circumstances may we not 
conjecture that it was at Caesarea in the days of Paul's im- 
prisonment that the first considerable gathering of material 
for this Gospel narrative was made, and that Luke contin- 
ued his work as opportunity offered during the later im- 
prisonment at Rome, and that in the after days in the mo- 
ments of leisure he may have snatched from his missionary- 
labors he completed the book, giving it its final touches in 
some village retreat in Greece, and writing last of all the 
preface dedicating it to Theophilus some time between 
A. D. 70 and 80? This gradual gathering and shaping of 
the material in hand would leave room to account for all the 
phenomena involved in the text, and the final finishing in 
the intervals of an itinerant missionary village visitation in 
Greece would meet the requirements of Jerome's sugges- 
tion that it was composed in places in both Achaia and 
Boeotia. In various humble village homes by the light of a 
dim-burning olive-oil wick we see the beloved evangelist 
completing the most beautiful book ever written. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 205 

V. Characterizations of the Gospel 

1. This is The Gospel for the Gentiles. 

When we turn to the study of the book, the first thing we 
notice is that it is written from a Gentile point of view, and 
that makes it noteworthy at once. It is the only book in 
the New Testament of which that can be said, except the 
book of Acts, also written by Luke. 

All the other books in our Bible, both in the Old Testa- 
ment and in the New Testament, were written by Jews. 
Our Bible is a Jewish book from beginning to end, as far 
as authorship is concerned. Its writers were all of the 
Hebrew race, and they all had more or less of the Hebrew 
prejudice and point of view. Jesus was a Jew. All of the 
twelve apostles were Jews. All of the first churches were 
composed wholly of Jews. Even Paul, the champion of the 
Gentiles, was himself a Jew, and he never wholly freed 
himself from the results of his rabbinical training and 
thought. If Luke had not written these books, all of 
Gentile Christendom would have been dependent forever 
upon Jewish sources for the whole of its record of the 
revelation of God unto men. But in these two books we see 
how the life of Jesus and the fortunes of the early Chris- 
tian Church appear from a Gentile point of view. The 
Gospel according to Matthew gives us a Jewish point of 
view. The Gospel according to Mark gives us a Jew's 
account, adapted to the use of Gentiles. Now Luke, a 
Gentile, will write for Gentiles, and our New Testament will 
have a Gentile Gospel, a Gospel written for us and by one 
of ourselves. 

How do we know that Luke is writing for us rather than 
for the Jews? (1) Because of his explanations of things 
with which the Jews were perfectly familiar, but of which 
Gentiles might be supposed to be ignorant. He tells us that 
Nazareth was a city of Galilee. 47 He gives us the same 



206 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

information concerning Capernaum. 48 He says that the 
feast of unleavened bread was called the passover. 49 All 
Jews knew these things without being told. Luke' wrote 
them down for the benefit of those who were not acquainted 
with the geography of Palestine or with the feasts of the 
Jewish ritual. However, it is when we turn from such 
small details to consider the general spirit of the book that 
its Gentile point of view becomes most apparent. 

(2) Of the three synoptic Gospels this is by far the 
most catholic in its sympathies and universalistic in its out- 
look, a. It has a genealogy of Jesus, even as Matthew had, 
but the genealogy of Matthew was a Jewish genealogy. It 
gave the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the 
son of Abraham. 50 Abraham was the father of the Jews, 
and Matthew was content to show that Jesus was a descend- 
ant of Abraham, a genuine Jew by race. Luke is not con- 
tent with that genealogy, and therefore he writes another 
one, and he carries the line of ancestors back of David and 
back of Abraham and up to Adam, the father of the human 
race. Then he says of Adam that he was the son of God. 51 
Was Jesus a Jew and a son of Abraham, and did he there- 
fore belong to the Jewish race? Yes, that was all true, 
but it was not the whole of the truth. Jesus was a Jew, 
but he was more than that : he was a man, and he belonged 
to all mankind. 

That was the first thing which this Gentile Gospel would 
make perfectly clear to the world. Our Lord is a son of 
Adam, as we are sons of Adam. He is flesh of our flesh 
and bone of our bone. He is our brother-man. He is not 
far from every one of us. Our God hath made of one blood 
all nations of men ; and if any man will seek for our Lord, 
he will find that he is of one blood with himself, a son of 
Adam, a son of God. Jesus is the last Adam. He belongs 
to humanity. He is the Kinsman-Redeemer of the race. 

48 4- 31. M Matt. 1. 1. 

"22. 1. "3. 38. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 207 

Matthew gave us the Jewish genealogy. Luke makes it a 
Gentile genealogy by carrying it beyond Abraham the father 
of the Jews to Adam the father of the race. Jesus belongs 
to the Jews, but he belongs to us as well as to them. He is 
the Saviour of all men. He is the Head of all humanity. 

b. We look into Matthew's narrative, and we find the 
story of the wise men coming from the East with their 
question, "Where is he who is born King of the Jews?" 52 
We turn to Luke's account of the birth of Jesus and we find 
no such question, but an angel makes announcement from 
the open sky, "I bring you good tidings of great joy which 
shall be to all the people." 53 The Jesus of whom Luke 
writes is to be, not only the King of the Jews, but also the 
Saviour of all men. 

c. Matthew tells us that Isaiah spoke of John the Baptist 
and called him 

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 
Make ye ready the way of the Lord, 
Make his paths straight." 54 

Luke tells us about the ministry of John the Baptist, and 
he quotes the prophecy of Isaiah as fulfilled in him ; but he 
is not willing to stop where Matthew did in that quotation. 
He carries it on until he makes of it a prophecy of comfort 
to the Gentiles. He says: "Listen! These are the words 
with which Isaiah continues his prophecy, 

"Every valley shall be filled, 
And every mountain and hill shall be brought low ; 
And the crooked shall become straight, 
And the rough ways smooth ; 
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God" 55 



62 Matt. 2. 2. 
M 2. 10. 

64 Matt. 3. 3- 

65 Luke 3. 5, 6. 



208 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

It surely was worth while to add that sentence, for it shows 
that this Jewish prophecy is of interest to all mankind. 
Gentiles as well as Jews are to see the salvation of God. 

d. Did Jesus confine practically the whole of his own min- 
istry to the Jews ? Yes, but Luke is careful to tell us what 
no one of the other evangelists had recorded for us, that in 
his ministry to the Jews Jesus reminded them again and 
again that the providence of God had been displayed in 
behalf of the Gentiles as well as in behalf of themselves. 
In the beginning of his ministry, in the synagogue at Naza- 
reth, Jesus said: "There were many Jewish widows in the 
time of Elijah, but Elijah passed them all by and his mi- 
raculous help was given to a heathen widow in Sidon. And 
there were many Jewish lepers in the time of Elisha, but the 
prophet did not heal any of them. He healed the Syrian 
heathen Naaman instead." 56 The Jews were filled with 
wrath at these sayings and cast Jesus out of their city. 
That was just the difference between Jesus and his fellow 
countrymen, Luke seems to say. They were exclusive and 
intolerant; he was sympathetic with all. They wanted all 
good things for themselves; he shared all his good things 
with all who asked for them and all who needed them, 
Samaritans or Galileans, Gentiles or Jews. 

e. Possibly the most characteristic parables of the gospel 
which Jesus preached are to be found in the fifteenth chapter 
of the Gospel according to Luke. Those three parables, the 
lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, sum up all the good 
news of certain salvation to sinful men, and two of them, 
the lost coin and the lost son, are recorded only by Luke. 
The three parables surely would rank among the most pre- 
cious of all the sayings of Jesus. They teach the Father's 
uncalculating and unceasing sacrifice and search until the 
last lost sheep is found. They teach the Father's loving 
illumination and diligent labor until the last coin with his 
image and superscription upon it has been restored. They 

"Luke 4. 25-30. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 209 

teach the Father's warm welcome for every prodigal who 
turns his face toward home. His grace is free to all, and it 
never fails. We could spare any other parable better than 
the parable of the prodigal son. We owe its preservation 
to the Gentile Luke. 

f. We are not surprised to find that the words, "grace," 
"Saviour," "salvation," and "evangelize" are found in this 
Gospel more often than in any other. Luke himself was 
an evangelist. He tells us that the angels are evangelists, 57 
and John the Baptist was an evangelist, 58 and Jesus was an 
evangelist, 59 and the twelve apostles were evangelists. 60 
Ten times in this book that verb, "to evangelize," occurs. 
The whole of the Gospel has to do with good news for all. 

In that first sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus 
read for his text from the prophet Isaiah : 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 

Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor : 

He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, 

And recovering of sight to the blind, 

To set at liberty them that are bruised, 

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." 

There Jesus closed the book and gave it back to the attend- 
ant. It was a strange place to quit in his reading. It was 
in the middle of a sentence. Jesus did not read the 
whole of the prophecy. He did not even finish the para- 
graph. He did not even read to a period. There was much 
of comfort and of good news in the remainder of the sen- 
tence and of the paragraph and of the prophecy. Jesus stops 
short at this point. Surely, it must have been with con- 
scious intention. Surely, it must have been with some good 
reason. We look for that reason and we find that the next 

67 1. 19 and 2. 10. 

68 3- 18. 

"" 4. 18, 43 ; 7. 22 ; 8. 1 ; 16. 16 ; 20. 1. 

•*6. 



210 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

following words were, 'And to proclaim the day of ven- 
geance of our God/ When the eyes of Jesus fell upon 
those words he closed the book. He would not read them. 
His message was a message of grace and not a proclamation 
of vengeance. He would rather leave the sentence unfin- 
ished than to leave any doubt in any mind as to that fact. He 
went on to preach his good tidings, and we read that all bare 
him witness, and wondered at the words of grace which 
proceeded out of his mouth. 61 

Luke does not wonder. He seems to think that only 
words of grace would be natural to Jesus. He pictures the 
Master as the gracious Redeemer, gracious both in matter 
of speech and in manner of life. Over against the ungra- 
ciousness of Simon the Pharisee Luke sets in contrast the 
graciousness of Jesus to the woman who was a sinner. He 
was a perfect gentleman even to her. She had heard him talk 
of the grace of God. She was willing to put it to the test 
for herself. Jesus did not fail her in the moment of trial. 
His graciousness included all. It recognized no barrier of 
social distinctions. The courtesy which Simon had failed 
to show to his guest she more than made up with her love. 
Jesus could not be outdone in courtesy by anyone. He was 
even more gracious to her than she was grateful to him. 62 

Was the grace of God ever set forth with such pathetic 
impressiveness as in that pearl of all the parables, where we 
read that while the returning prodigal was yet a long way 
off his father saw him and ran to meet him, and then cele- 
brated his return with the best robe and a fitting feast and 
music and dancing? The grace of the dancers was only the 
faintest symbol of the grace in that father's heart. No 
gracious act of earth can do more than typify the heavenly 
Father's exhaustless grace. Can we imagine the grace in 
the manner of Jesus and in his tone as he spoke that parable? 

How gracious he was to the ten lepers, although one of 

61 4. 2a 

62 7- 48. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 211 

them was an alien Samaritan! H'ow gracious he was to 
Zacchaeus, promising salvation to his house, although he had 
been a defrauding and despicable publican, as little and mean 
in his spirit as he was little and mean in his stature. How 
gracious he was to Mary when Martha's short temper had 
snapped and she was ready to ask the Master to join her in 
scolding the remissness of the younger girl! Jesus was as 
gracious to her as her sister was indignant with her. 

How gracious he was to that dying thief! The male- 
factor was suffering his just deserts. He had been a robber, 
and in all probability a murderer, and he was receiving the 
penalty due for his crimes. His fellow malefactor prayed 
to Jesus for salvation, "Save thyself and us," but it was in 
words of mockery and not of devotion; and Jesus paid no 
heed to him. Possibly he was the only one who ever asked 
Jesus for salvation and found his cry for help unheeded. 
The other dying thief recognized the innocence of Jesus and 
rebuked his fellow sufferer for his failure in courtesy to 
such a character. He did not ask for salvation from the 
cross or from death. He asked Jesus only to remember him 
when the kingdom preached had come. It was the most 
sublime faith chronicled in our New Testament. He be- 
lieved in the character of Jesus and in the coming of his 
kingdom, despite all contrary evidence. All of the disciples 
of Jesus had forsaken him and fled away. They had seen 
Jesus raise the dead and yet their faith had failed them in 
that hour. The thief upon the cross sees Jesus dying upon 
the cross at his side, and yet has faith in him ! 

Now see with what graciousness Jesus makes response to 
such faith. "Verily — there is no doubt about it. I am not 
stating to you a mere possibility, but a most certain truth; 
for where I am there shall also my servants be with me; 
therefore, — I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in 
Paradise." 63 Bossuet comments upon this promise as fol- 



23- 43- 



212 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

lows: "To-day — what speed! — with me — what companion- 
ship! — in Paradise — what rest!" Jesus had consorted with 
all classes of people here upon the earth. He had been no 
respecter of persons during his ministry. He went into 
paradise hand in hand with a crucified thief. His gracious- 
ness will be his characteristic through all eternity to come. 
As it was manifest to all alike in the days of his ministry it 
will be manifest to all alike for evermore. 

The Gospel according to Luke is preeminently the Gospel 
of God's Grace. It has surpassing graciousness of content 
and style. It sets forth the life of the gracious Master and 
Redeemer of men. It records his gracious words and deeds, 
and it is filled with his spirit of grace throughout. The 
pearl of all the parables is found in this Gospel, and it pic- 
tures the exhaustless grace of the Father's love. The 
heavenly Fatherhood was to Jesus the guarantee of bound- 
less, exhaustless, infinite grace. It was in the faith of that 
gracious Fatherhood that Jesus lived and died. It was 
largely the manifestation of that grace in his life which made 
him the revealer of God unto men. 

It is a noteworthy fact that Luke alone has the record 
of the earliest saying of Jesus when a boy of only twelve 
years, and also the only record of what probably was the 
last word spoken on the cross, and that these earliest and 
latest recorded sayings of the Redeemer are near allied. 
They both declare the faith of Jesus in the divine Father- 
hood and his implicit confidence in the Father's providence 
and gracious care. The boy said, "I must be in my Father's 
house." The dying Saviour said, "Father, into thy hands I 
commend my spirit." Here is the source of the gracious- 
ness of Jesus, in the grace of God the Father. We read in 
the Old Testament. 

"Jehovah is merciful and gracious, 
Slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness." 

In the Sermon on the Mount, recorded by Matthew, Jesus 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 213 

says, "Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father 
is perfect." In the Sermon on the Plain, recorded by Luke, 
in the corresponding command we find Jesus saying, "Be ye 
merciful and gracious and full of loving-kindness, even as 
your Father is characterized by these things." We see the 
exemplification of the exhortation in his own life. The gra- 
ciousness of Jesus is characteristic of both his manner and 
speech in the third Gospel, and the same graciousness be- 
comes characteristic of the Gospel as well. 

There is severity in this Gospel when severity is needed, 
but characteristically it is a Gospel of Grace. Paul says 
much about the grace of God, but what he says in the way 
of abstract doctrinal presentation Luke gives us in the way 
of concrete example. That makes it all so much more life- 
like and interesting, and thousands appreciate and love the 
Gospel according to Luke, who find the Pauline Epistles 
more or less of a closed revelation. The Jesus of Luke 
seems so much nearer to them than the Jesus of Paul. The 
grace of God seems so much more tangible and accessible 
as illustrated in the pages of the Gospel. Divine Grace is 
the keynote of the whole narration. 

g. At three crisis points in his narrative Luke shows us 
how Jesus was rejected by the Galilaeans, 64 and by the 
Samaritans, 65 and by the Judaeans and the assembled na- 
tion of the Jews at the passover feast. 66 The significant 
inference is that the gospel must look beyond all of these for 
its greatest future growth, and in the book of Acts Luke 
shows how that actually came to pass. 

h. We note that in the beginning of the Gospel Luke is 
the only one of the evangelists who tells us the story of 
Simeon, and the only one to record the song of that aged 
saint : 



"4. 


29. 


w 9. 


53. 


"23 


. 23. 



2i 4 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

"Now lettest thou thy servant depart, Lord, 
According to thy word, in peace; 
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; 
A light for revelation to the Gentiles, 
And the glory of thy people Israel." 67 

Luke sets that phrase, "a revelation to the Gentiles," in the 
very forefront of his Gospel. 

Then we turn to the middle of the Gospel and in the tenth 
chapter we find a fuller account of the sending out of the 
seventy than any other evangelist has given us; and the 
commentators tell us that the Jews reckoned the Gentile 
nations to be seventy in number, and as the twelve apostles 
represented the twelve tribes of Israel the seventy evangel- 
ists by their very number represented the world-wide des- 
tination of the gospel. In the tenth chapter of the book of 
Genesis there is an enumeration of seventy nations, and the 
Jews believed that these nations represented the whole 
human race. Therefore, in the Talmud we find it recorded 
that at the feast of tabernacles the Jews offered seventy 
bullocks for the seventy nations, that the rain may fall on 
the fields of all the world. 68 

Then we turn to the end of the Gospel, and in its closing 
words we hear the resurrected Lord commissioning his 
church to preach repentance and remission of sins unto all 
the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 69 In the beginning 
and the middle and the end of his Gospel Luke makes it 
clear that this revelation of good news is for all the nations 
of men. 

i. When Matthew records the choice of the twelve apos- 
tles, and lists their names, he proceeds at once to give the 
charge which Jesus laid upon them before he sent them 



2. 29-32. 

Lightfoot's Hor. Talm., John 7. 2. 
1 24. 47- 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 215 

forth, and the very first commandment laid upon them was 
this: "Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not 
into any city of the Samaritans: but go rather to the lost 
sheep of the house of Israel." 70 Luke tells us of the send- 
ing out of the twelve and of the charge given them by the 
Master, but he omits any refusal of the gospel to the Gen- 
tiles or any limitation of their ministry to the Jews. 71 In 
the next chapter he gives a much longer and fuller account 
of the sending out of the seventy, and no limitations are 
suggested for their evangelism, while their number sug- 
gested that they might go into all the world. 

j. Luke was the first church historian. Mark and Mat- 
thew wrote memoirs. John wrote a philosophy of religion. 
No other writers in the New Testament devoted themselves 
to narration. Luke the Gentile set himself to write a histor- 
ical gospel, following Gentile models at certain points and 
connecting his account with Gentile history throughout. 
He seems to have seen clearly from the very first that the 
interests of Christianity were bound up with the interests 
of world history and that the birth of Jesus was an event of 
importance to the whole Roman empire. 

He is the only writer in the New Testament who men- 
tions a Roman emperor by name, and he names three of 
them, Augustus, Tiberius and Claudius. 72 He joins the 
name of Jesus with that of the governor Quirinius and 
Caesar Augustus. 73 He unites the baptism of John and the 
beginning ministry of Jesus with the reign of Caesar Tibe- 
rius and the rule of Pilate and Herod and Philip and Lysan- 
ias, as well as the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. 74 
In general, Luke has a much larger number of proper names 
than are to be found in the other Gospels, and many of these 

70 Matt. 10. 5, 6. 

71 9. 1-6. 

72 2. 1; 3. 1; Acts 11. 28; 18. 2. 

78 2. 1, 2. 

74 3- 1,2. 



216 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

are the names of those prominent in the political life of that 
day, and it follows, therefore, that almost all the connecting 
links between the gospel history and contemporary Gentile 
history are furnished us by Luke. He begins at Bethle- 
hem, but he ends at Rome. He opens his narrative with 
the vision of Zacharias in the seclusion of the temple at 
Jerusalem, but he closes it with the preaching of the apostle 
Paul in the world capital. From beginning to end he is 
bent on showing that the gospel is a gospel for a world em- 
pire, for all nations of men, and for all the future ages of 
time. 

Van Oosterzee was right when he said, "As Paul led the 
people of the Lord out of the bondage to the law into the 
enjoyment of gospel liberty, so did Luke raise sacred history 
from the standpoint of the Israelitish nationality to the 
higher and holier ground of universal humanity/' 75 We 
owe that to this Gentile writer. His explanations for Gentile 
readers, his allusions to Gentile rulers and contemporary 
Gentile history, his characteristic additions of Gentile proph- 
ecies and promises and parables combine to make this the 
Gentile Gospel ; and, surely, we Gentiles never can be grate- 
ful enough that so much of our New Testament was written 
from a Gentile point of view. As Paul is the apostle to the 
Gentiles, Luke is the evangelist for the Gentiles. The Gos- 
pel according to Luke and the book of Acts are written by 
a Gentile for the Gentile world. 

2. This is The Gospel of an Educated Man. 

Luke is the only one of the four evangelists who had a 
scientific training. We would expect to see the results of 
that training in his writings. We think that it is apparent in 
his Gospel in at least four particulars: (i) In his accuracy. 
He tells Theophilus that he has traced the course of events 
accurately from the first, and that therefore Theophilus may 
rest assured of the certainty of these things which he finds 



75 Quoted by Schaff, op. cit., p. 659. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 217 

here recorded. 76 Something of the scholar's exactness is 
included in the ideal of Luke, and he seems to have attained 
his ideal in a rather remarkable degree. 

Modern criticism again and again has attacked the cor- 
rectness of his statements, but it never has been successful 
in proving any serious mistake. It has become increasingly 
evident that it is dangerous to accuse Luke of inaccuracy in 
anything. Time and new discoveries have proven him right 
and his critics wrong again and again. Such eminent modern 
authorities as Harnack and Ramsay rank Luke "in the first 
class of historians, both for truthworthiness in his details, 
and in his judgment for selecting the subjects which are of 
the first importance and must be treated fully. . . . We 
may feel confident that he showed at least the same scrupu- 
lous accuracy in reporting Christ's teachings as he did in 
speaking of slight secular details." 77 

Luke has tolerated no carelessness in research or in com- 
position. He seems to be dissatisfied with the unchronolog- 
ical arrangement of material in the previous gospel nar- 
ratives, for he assures Theophilus that he will write events 
in order. 78 It probably is with this intent that he con- 
cludes the account of the ministry of John the Baptist be- 
fore he begins the account of the ministry of Jesus. 79 We 
find a chronological arrangement throughout. First, we 
have preliminary and introductory material (1. 1 to 4. 13). 
Then follows the ministry of Jesus in Galilee (4. 14 to 
9. 50). Then we read of the wider ministry outside of 
Galilee (9. 51 to 19. 28). Then come the closing scenes 
in Jerusalem (19. 29 to 24. 53). This division is altogether 
according to time. 

Luke is careful to insert the proper dates upon occasion. 80 



" I. 3, 4- 

" Wilson, Origins and Aims of the Four Gospels, pp. 62-3. 

78 1. 3- 
79 3. 18-20. 

80 1. 5; 2. 1, 2; 2. 21, 22; 2. 42; 3. 1, 2; 3. 23. 



218 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

The Greek word for "year," eroc, is found in the writ- 
ings of Luke twenty-six times and in all the other books of 
the New Testament only twenty-three times. The Greek 
word for "month," ^v, is found in Luke's writings ten times 
and in all the rest of the New Testament only eight times. 
The more frequent occurrence of these words in his writ- 
ings is an indication of Luke's desire to be more accurate 
in his designations of time. 

(2) Another result of Luke's university training is evi- 
dent in his versatility. Plummer says : "The author of the 
third Gospel and of the Acts is the most versatile of all 
the New Testament writers. He can be as Hebraistic as the 
seventy, and as free from Hebraisms as Plutarch. And, in 
the main, whether intentionally or not, he is Hebraistic in 
describing Hebrew society, and Greek in describing Greek 
society." 81 It demands something of both talent and train- 
ing to make such transitions of style possible. 

(3) To accuracy and versatility we may add fluency as 
another evidence of higher education and broader culture. 
An untrained man may be very prolix in verbal statement of 
facts, but if he is set to write them down he is apt to make 
very short work of it. He is unaccustomed to the task of 
composition, and he finds it very difficult for him, and he 
confines himself to the recording of the barest outline or 
the main essentials. Other things being equal, facility of 
expression comes with practice, and an educated man will 
have had that practice and therefore will take more pleas- 
ure in literary composition. He will be ready to fill out the 
more meager outline and to add interesting details to the 
essential features of the narrative. He will give us a fuller 
and more symmetrical account. When we compare the 
Gospel according to Luke with the other synoptics we find 
these things to be true of it. 

a. It is a more comprehensive account. It begins with the 



61 Plummer, op. cit., p. xlix. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 219 

birth of the Forerunner and all the interesting events con- 
nected therewith. The contents of the first two chapters are 
peculiar to Luke. Mark began with the active ministry of 
John the Baptist. Matthew told us about the birth of Jesus. 
Luke goes back of these events to find the beginning of the 
new dispensation in the prophecy of the birth of John. 
Then Luke carries his narrative beyond that of any of the 
other Gospels. He is the only one who gives us any ac- 
count of the ascension of Jesus, which would surely seem 
to be the only fitting end for such a career as that of the 
Incarnate One. In the middle of his Gospel Luke has given 
us a large section — 9. 45 to 18. 30 — the most of the material 
in which is peculiar to him. The other Gospels pass these 
events over in silence, and yet some of them are among the 
most remarkable in our Lord's ministry. This section is 
usually called "the greater insertion" in the gospel narrative. 
Schleiermacher called it "the journey account." Others 
have named it the "Gnomology." Altogether, about one 
third of the contents of Luke is not to be found in the other 
Gospels. 

b. As the most comprehensive account, the Gospel ac- 
cording to Luke is the longest of the four Gospels. It has 
been calculated that when the contents of the synoptic Gos- 
pels have been divided into one hundred and seventy-two 
sections Luke has one hundred and twenty-seven, or about 
three fourths of these ; Matthew has one hundred and four- 
teen, or about two thirds; and Mark has eighty-four, or 
about one half ; and of these one hundred and seventy-two 
sections Luke has forty-eight, or about two sevenths peculiar 
to himself ; Matthew has twenty-two, or about one eighth ; 
and Mark has five, or about one thirty-seventh. 

c. There are twenty miracles recorded in this Gospel, and 
six of these are peculiar to Luke. These are : The miracu- 
lous draught of fishes, 82 the raising of the widow's son at 



"5. 4-n. 



220 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Nain, 83 the healing of the woman bowed together, 84 the cure 
of the dropsical man, 85 the cleansing of the ten lepers, 86 
the restoration of Malchus's ear. 87 Over against these six 
miracles peculiar to Luke, Matthew has only three peculiar 
to himself, and Mark has only two. Luke, therefore, has 
more than Matthew and Mark combined. 

d. There are twenty-three parables recorded in this Gos- 
pel, and of these eighteen are peculiar to Luke. These are : 
The two debtors, 88 the good Samaritan, 89 the importunate 
friend, 90 the rich fool, 91 the watchful servants, 92 the barren 
fig tree, 93 the chief seats, 94 the great supper, 95 the rash 
builder, 96 the rash king, 97 the lost coin, 98 the lost son, 99 
the unrighteous steward, 100 the rich man and Lazarus, 101 
the unprofitable servants, 102 the unjust judge, 103 the Phari- 
see and publican, 104 the pounds. 105 Over against these 
eighteen parables peculiar to Luke, Matthew has only ten 
and Mark has only one. Therefore Luke has over a third 
more than Matthew and Mark combined. 

These parables seem to be of quite a different character 
from those in the other synoptics. The parables in the first 
Gospel had to do chiefly with the kingdom and its laws. 
The parables in the Gospel according to Luke have an indi- 
vidual and purely human interest. They are more personal 
and more concrete. They do not seem so much like types 
of spiritual phenomena as they do like transcripts from 



-7. 


11-17. 


M i3. 


10-17. 


85 14. 


1-7- 


"17. 


11-19. 


"22. 


50, si. 


88 7.. 


41-43. 


89 10. 


25-37- 


W II. 


5-8- 


91 12. 


16-21. 


93 12. 


35-48. 


M 13. 


*-9. 


"14. 7-1 1. 



95 14. 


16-24. 


96 14. 


28-30. 


w i 4 . 


31, 32. 


98 15. 


3-io. 


"15. 


n-32. 


100 16. 


1-13. 


191 16. 


19-31. 


102 17. 


7-10. 


193 18. 


1-8. 


104 18. 


10-14. 


m IQ. 


11-27. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 221 

actual life. They are not so much concerned with analogies 
from nature as they are with accurate accounts of human 
nature. They do not idealize human nature. They repre- 
sent it as it actually is. They are more like snapshots at 
contemporary occurrences. They are stories based on fact. 
They have to do with real men and women and the com- 
mon things of daily life. 

What testimony they bear to the freshness and originality 
of the conversation of Jesus! Some of these parables are 
spoken spontaneously in answer to some question put at him 
unexpectedly. He must have had a very ready wit and very 
unusual powers of observation to produce such apt illustra- 
tions of his truth at a moment's notice. No wonder the 
common people heard him gladly. He talked about things 
which they knew, and showed them hidden depths of wisdom 
where they had seen only the utterly commonplace. These 
parables would go home to the hearts of all. They showed 
the way of salvation from the materials close at hand. The 
truth embodied in these tales could be appreciated by any- 
one. Their simplicity was their chief charm. Their home- 
liness was one element of their power. 

e. Of the interesting narratives peculiar to Luke we may 
mention as examples the events connected with the birth of 
John the Baptist and of Jesus, including the annunciation, 
the story of the shepherds, the meeting with Simeon and 
with Anna, 106 the temple visit at the age of twelve, 107 the 
scene in the synagogue at Nazareth, 108 the feast in the home 
of Simon the Pharisee, 109 the intolerance of James and 
John, 110 the story of Martha and Mary, 111 the story of 
Zacchaeus, 112 the story of the penitent thief, 113 and the 
story of the walk to Emmaus. 114 The mere mention of 



10< 1. 5 to 2. 40. m 10. 38-42. 

tvt 2. 41-52. m io. 1-10. 

108 4. 16-30. 1U 23. 40-43. 

IW 7- 36-50. m 24. 13-35. 
110 9. 49-54- 



222 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

these narratives and miracles and parables makes it evident 
at once that the greater length of the third Gospel is not 
due to any mere padding or prolixity; for these things be- 
long to the most precious portions of the record of the life 
and teaching of our Lord. Yet the longest Gospel might 
have been due to a greater abundance of material on hand 
or to a greater abundance of leisure for writing. The final 
and crowning test of an educated man's composition will 
be found in his literary style. To accuracy, versatility, flu- 
ency does Luke add beauty of literary style? 

(4) Renan says that this is "the most literary of the Gos- 
pels," and he adds that it is "a beautiful narrative, well con- 
trived, at once Hebraic and Hellenic, uniting the emotion of 
the drama with the serenity of the idyl." 115 

Notice (a) the language Luke employs. It is the most 
beautiful Greek in the New Testament, with the possible ex- 
ception of that found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Luke 
is less Hebraic than the other evangelists. Yet his first two 
chapters have a stronger Hebraic coloring than any other 
portion of the New Testament, and this is a proof either of 
Luke's personal versatility or of his faithful reproduction 
of some Hebraic original of this part of his narrative. 
When he is Hebraic he is thoroughly so ; but when he writes 
Greek it is better Greek than the other evangelists could 
command ; and where he is most independent of all previous 
effort, as in the preface to his own narrative, his Greek 
is of the finest quality and merits comparison with the 
best of the classical models. Taking the Gospel as a whole, 
its Greek will be found to stand about midway between 
the classical perfection of the ancients and the common, 
or Hellenistic, Greek of Luke's day. It is the Greek of 
an educated man as distinguished from the current Greek 
of ordinary use. 

Notice (b) that Luke has the richest vocabulary of any of 



U6 Renan, op. cit., p. 282. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 223 

the gospel writers. The words peculiar to Luke in the New 
Testament are variously estimated, according to various 
readings of the text, from seven hundred and fifty to eight 
hundred and fifty-one; and in the Gospel from two hundred 
and sixty-one to three hundred and twelve of these occur. 
Matthew has only seventy words peculiar to him in the New 
Testament, Mark forty-four, and John fifty. The richness 
of a man's vocabulary is usually a very fair measure of the 
degree of his culture. The uneducated man has a very lim- 
ited fund of words at his command. The well-read and 
well-trained man is adding continually to his supply. ' 

Notice (c) the very effective contrasts which are char- 
acteristic of Luke's grouping of his material. All through 
the Gospel we find two opposing characters set side by side, 
that we may see them together and mark the difference be- 
tween them. There are the two annunciations in the begin- 
ning, to Zacharias slow to believe and to Mary the in- 
stantly obedient. Then follow such contrasts as those 
offered by Simon and the sinful woman, Martha and Mary, 
the ungrateful Jewish lepers and the grateful Samaritan, 
the unneighborly Levite and priest and the neighborly 
Samaritan, the Pharisee and the publican, the rich man and 
Lazarus, the prodigal and his elder brother, the sleepy and 
surly friend and the sleepless and gracious God, the unjust 
judge and the loving Father of all, the hostile priesthood 
and the hearkening people, the work of Jesus and the work 
of the devil, and the blessings and the woes of the Sermon 
on the Plain. 

Sanday says that Luke has more literary ambition than 
his fellows. 116 Ramsay declares that he "brings to the treat- 
ment of his subjects genius, literary skill, and sympathetic 
historical insight." Plummer says: "He possesses the art 
of composition. He knows not only how to tell a tale truth- 
fully, but how to tell it with effect. ... As the fine liter- 



U8 Book by Book, p. 401. 



224 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

ary taste of Renan affirms, it is the most beautiful book in 
the world." 117 

3. This is The Gospel of the Physician. 

If Paul had not told us that Luke was a physician we 
could have been assured of it from the internal evidence 
afforded in his writing. ( 1 ) This is apparent in his frequent 
references to the healing work of Jesus. 118 

(2) Luke is the only one of the evangelists to record the 
surgical miracle of the healing of Malchus's ear. 119 

(3) Of the six miracles recorded by Luke alone, five are 
miracles of healing, if we include among them the raising of 
the widow's son at Nain. 120 The four others are, the heal- 
ing of the woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen 
years, 121 and of the man afflicted with the dropsy, 122 the 
cleansing of the ten lepers, 123 and the restoration of 
Malchus's mutilated ear. 124 

(4) Luke alone quotes the proverb from the lips of Jesus, 
"Physician, heal thyself"; 125 and he tells us that Jesus de- 
clared that this title of "Physician" would be popularly ap- 
plied to him in his work. 

(5) Luke is more circumstantial in his description of 
diseases than any other writer in the New Testament, as in 
Luke 4. 8; 5. 12; 22. 44; Acts 3. 7; 9. 18; 10. 9, 10; 12. 23; 
28.8. 

(6) Luke frequently gives us the symptoms of disease 
and the duration of the sickness, and marks for us the stages 
of the patient's recovery. He seems to distinguish between 
cases of possession and ordinary forms of physical infir- 
mity, as in 6. 17, 18. 

(7) It has been noted that the Gospel of the physician is 
also the Gospel of the psychologist. Where Mark tells us 



117 Plummer, op. cit., xlvi. 122 14. 1-6. 

118 4. 18; 9. 1; 9. 2; 9. 6; 10. 9. 123 i7. 11-19. 

119 22. 51. ™22. 51. 

"°7- n-17. m 4- 23. 
121 13. 10-17. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 225 

only about outward actions and looks, Luke makes some 
comment concerning the mental attitude involved, as in 
3. 15; 6. 11 ; 7. 39. A skillful physician will look beyond 
external symptoms to the mental phenomena. It is char- 
acteristic of our own age that more attention than formerly 
was believed necessary is now given to the state of the mind 
in the treatment of all disease. But all first-class physicians 
have always been more or less interested in psychology as 
an aid in their work ; and Luke appears to have belonged in 
this class. 

Strange and unexpected touches occur in Luke's nar- 
rative, corresponding to the astonishing and inexplicable 
psychological experiences of ordinary life. Peter is amazed 
at the wonder-working power displayed by the Lord in 
the miraculous draught of fishes, and he is never more 
determined to cleave to this new Master through sunshine 
and storm. Yet what does he do ? The most foolish and in- 
explicable thing. He falls at the knees of Jesus and cries 
"Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord." 126 
How could Jesus depart from him? They were in a boat, 
out on the water. It was not convenient for anyone to 
leave that boat just at that moment. Moreover, Peter did 
not wish for Jesus to depart anyway. It would have been 
more becoming for him to go away, if anybody had to leave, 
than for him to order the Master to depart from him. It 
was all utterly foolish and inexcusable, just as the psycho- 
logical processes of such a mind as Peter's so often are. 

The risen Lord appeared among his disciples, and showed 
them his hands and his feet, that they might be convinced of 
his identity. It is Luke who puts down that extraordinary 
statement at that point. ''They yet believed not for joy." 127 
What a natural touch that was! They believed it, and yet 
it was too good to be true. 

The Lord had ascended into heaven, and the disciples 

126 5- 8, 9. 
^24. 41. 



226 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

were to see him no more. Luke makes that statement of 
fact and then ends the book with the astonishing comment 
that the disciples "worshiped him, and returned to Jeru- 
salem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, 
blessing God." 128 No loud lamentation, no rending of their 
garments, no forty-day period of mourning; nothing but 
praise and joy! 

(8) There is an indication that the writer of the third 
Gospel and the book of Acts is a physician which is all- 
sufficient in itself, and which has seemed to most people to 
be altogether conclusive in the matter. These books are 
filled with technical medical terms, such as can be paralleled 
only in the writings of men in the medical profession itself. 
The Rev. W. K. Hobart has written a volume of more than 
three hundred pages entitled The Medical Language of 
Luke, in which he has made a list of some four hundred 
terms used more frequently by Luke than by others, or used 
by Luke alone among the writers of the New Testament, 
and found also in the Greek medical writers. Some of these 
are purely technical terms, not likely to be in use anywhere 
except in professional circles. 129 In 18. 25, where Mark and 
Matthew have the more common word for "needle," pa<pi^ 
Luke uses the word for the surgical needle, $zkbvi\. In 
Acts 13. 11 Luke uses a word for a disease of the eye, oc- 
curring frequently in Galen, but found nowhere else in our 
New Testament or the Septuagint, a^vc. 

Of course, all people are apt to use medical phraseology 
sometimes. The apostle Paul has many medical metaphors 
in his epistles. It has been an interesting subject for dis- 
cussion and investigation as to how far Paul's companion- 
ship with Luke the physician may have been responsible for 
these medical terms in his usage. However, no one is apt 
to use these medical terms and phrases continually ex- 
cept a medical man. Such a man will use them, not only 

128 24. 52, 53. 

129 4- 38, 39; 16. 19-26. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 227 

in the technical description of disease, but even in reference 
to the affairs of ordinary life. Now, the abundance of the 
medical terms in the third Gospel distinguishes it from all 
the others as the work of a physician, and nearly one hun- 
dred of these terms are such as only a physician might be 
expected to use. 

Harnack gives pages of evidence on this subject which 
he sums up in these words: "When a physician writes a 
historical work it does not necessarily follow that his profes- 
sion shows itself in his writing ; yet it is only natural for one 
to look for traces of the author's medical profession in such 
a work. These traces may be of different kinds: (1) the 
whole character of the narrative may be determined by 
points of view, aims, and ideals which are more or less 
medical (disease and its treatment) ; (2) marked prefer- 
ence may be shown for stories concerning the healing of 
diseases, which stories may be given in great number and 
detail; (3) the language may be colored by the language of 
physicians (medical technical terms, metaphors of medical 
character, etc.). All these three groups of characteristic 
signs are found in the historical work which bears the name 
of Luke. Here, however, it may be objected that the sub- 
ject-matter itself is responsible for these traits, so that their 
evidence is not decisive for the medical calling of the author. 
Jesus appeared as a great physician and healer. All the 
evangelists say this of him; hence it is not surprising that 
one of them has set this phase of his ministry in the fore- 
ground, and has regarded it as the most important. Our 
evangelist need not, therefore, have been a physician, espe- 
cially if he were a Greek, seeing that in those days Greeks 
with religious interests were disposed to regard religion 
mainly under the category of healing and salvation. This 
is true; yet such a combination of characteristic signs will 
compel us to believe that the author was a physician if (4) 
the description of the particular cases of disease shows dis- 
tinct traces of medical diagnosis and scientific knowledge; 



228 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

(5) if the language, even where questions of medicine or of 
healing are not touched upon, is colored by medical phrase- 
ology; and (6) if in those passages where the author speaks 
as an eyewitness medical traits are especially and prominently 
apparent. These three kinds of tokens are also found in the 
historical work of our author. It is, accordingly, proved 
that it proceeds from the pen of a physician." 130 This 
puts the truth as clearly as it may be stated. Those who are 
interested in the proof in detail will find it in the pages of 
Hobart and Harnack. 

(9) With these facts in mind it is interesting to notice one 
difference between Mark's account and Luke's account of 
the woman who was healed by touching the hem of the 
garment of Jesus. Mark tells us that "she had suffered 
many things of many physicians, and had spent all that 
she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew 
worse." 131 That, surely, is a bad showing for the medical 
profession. Would Luke be likely to write down such an 
indictment of his own calling in life? We turn to his ac- 
count 132 and we find that in the Vatican manuscript and the 
Westcott and Hort text and the margin of the Revised Ver- 
sion Luke omits all these severe reflections upon the phy- 
sicians and contents himself with the simple statement, "She 
was not able to be healed by any." This is hardly an ade- 
quate translation. What Luke really means to say is that 
the woman lacked all vital energy in herself, so that she 
seemed to be beyond the hope of any favorable response to 
medical treatment. It was a case of chronic debility so pro- 
nounced that nothing seemed to be left for a physician to 
build upon. It was not the fault of the physicians that she 
could not be cured. It was her own condition which seemed 
incurable. Luke, the physician, would not have been likely 
to write any of those things recorded by Mark. Some of 

180 Harnack, Luke the Physician, pp. 175, 176. 
m 5- 25, 26. 
182 8. 43- 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 229 

the old manuscripts retain the clause in the text of Luke, 
"and she had spent all her living upon physicians," but it 
is better to omit it, as Westcott and Hort have done. 

(10) We notice in closing this list of the evidences in the 
writings of Luke that they are the product of one who repre- 
sents the point of view of the medical profession, that almost 
the last words Luke has written at the close of the book of 
Acts consist of a quotation from Isaiah ending with the 
words, "and I will heal them." 133 It is the healing power 
of Jehovah upon which he lays emphasis last. Here, then, 
we have a list of ten of the direct evidences of his profes- 
sional calling to be found in the writings of Luke. They 
are cumulative in effect, and, taking them all together, we 
are disposed to be exceedingly glad that one of our Gospels 
was written by a Gentile, and that he was an educated man 
and that his profession was that of a physician. 

When we turn from the direct evidences to those which 
are more indirect we find this feeling enhanced. A physi- 
cian, like an evangelist or any true minister of the gospel, 
must be no respecter of persons. He must be interested in 
all classes alike, and must devote himself to the helping and 
healing of all. But there is one class in which the physician 
as a professional man is more interested than the lawyer or 
the preacher or any other servant of society. That is the 
class of the very young. 

The physician ought to be expert in the diseases of in- 
fancy. It is a part of his duty to help the little ones through 
the period of their greatest helplessness and infirmity into 
good health and vigorous physical life. The sympathy and 
love of the physician's heart goes out continually to the inno- 
cent and helpless lambs of the flock. Now, it surely is char- 
acteristic of the third Gospel that more than the others it is 
interested in the little folks. 

4. This is The Gospel of Childhood. 

It is a strange fact that there is not a child in the fourth 

143 28. 27. 



2 3 o THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Gospel from beginning to end. If that were the only pic- 
ture we had of the ministry of Jesus all the children would 
have disappeared from it and all the children might have felt 
that they had no share in it to-day. On the contrary, the 
third Gospel is the Gospel of childhood. 

(i) Luke alone tells us about the birth and infancy of 
John the Baptist, and all the marvels connected with it, the 
annunciation to Zacharias in the temple, the paralysis of 
the tongue of that unbeliever, the miraculous quickening of 
Elisabeth in her old age, the restoration of the power of 
speech to Zacharias at the time of the birth of his son, and 
the use he made of it in singing a psalm of praise to God. 
This birth in old age, this temporary dumbness, and this 
loosening of a paralyzed tongue are all of interest to 
the physician as well as to the writer of the gospel 
history. 

(2) Matthew tells us something about the birth of Jesus, 
but Luke adds the story of the annunciation to Mary, the 
visit to Elisabeth, the singing of the Magnificat, the herald- 
ing of the heavenly host, the visit of the shepherds, the cir- 
cumcision, the purification, the meeting with Simeon and 
Anna, the child's growth in wisdom and stature and grace, 
and the twelve-year-old boy's interest in the temple and its 
teachers of the law. 

(3) Mark and Matthew told us how they brought little 
children to Jesus, but Luke tells us that these little ones were 
babes, rd j3pe07?. They were innocent, helpless, clinging, de- 
pendent, trustful infants in their mothers' arms of whom 
Jesus said, "To such belongeth the kingdom of God." 134 
The first two chapters of the third Gospel always will be 
the chapters we shall most delight to read to the children 
and the chapters which the children will be most delighted 
to hear. They always will love best the Gospel with the 
story of the shepherds and the angels, the Gospel which tells 
how Jesus allowed the mothers to bring their babies to him, 

1M Luke 18. 15-17. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 231 

the Gospel written by the beloved physician who loved the 
little folks and so thought it worth while to write a part of 
his story for them. 

5. This is The Gospel of Womanhood. 

A physician because of his profession is brought into 
more confidential relations with women than any other pro- 
fessional man is likely to be. A lawyer probably will deal 
most of the time with men. A minister ought to be inter- 
ested equally in the men and the women of his community. 
But since, apart from helpless infancy, woman physically is 
the weaker vessel, a physician is apt to find that the most of 
his time and attention is occupied with the care of women 
and children; and if he is of a naturally kindly disposition 
he will find his sympathies going out to these in large 
measure, and as he becomes beloved and trusted, he will 
find that their confidence is given to him as to no other 
professional man. The third Gospel has many items of 
intimate information concerning women which may have 
come to Luke in this way. There is such a number of 
these that the third Gospel has come to be called the "Gos- 
pel of Womanhood." We note some of the reasons for giv- 
ing it this title. 

(1) Luke tells us more about women than the other 
synoptics combined. The word yvvri, "woman," occurs in 
Mark and Matthew forty-nine times, and in Luke alone 
forty-three times, almost as many times as in the two others 
put together. The pages of this Gospel are filled with the 
figures of women, and some of them are not to be found in 
the other Gospels at all. 

(2) We are indebted to Luke alone for much of our in- 
formation concerning the Virgin Mary. The old tradition 
which declared that Luke was a painter, and that he had 
painted the portrait of the Virgin Mary, was not so far 
wrong after all, for it is from the pages of Luke that we are 
able to reproduce any satisfying portrait of the Virgin 
Mary to-day. Mark mentioned her name, and Matthew told 



232 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

us something about the trouble she had with Joseph, who 
was minded to put her away; but it is in Luke's narrative 
alone that we are permitted to see the events circling about 
the birth of the God-Man from the standpoint of the human 
mother involved in the great mystery. Luke alone tells us 
about the annunciation to Mary, and we have a glimpse of 
that moment of transcendent revelation to the Virgin who 
was to bear a Child, some inkling of the profound perplexity 
into which she was inevitably thrown, some conception of 
the absolute sublimity of self -surrender to that sword which 
was to pierce her soul and to that exaltation over all woman- 
kind forevermore. 

Luke has pictured for us Mary the maid and Mary the 
mother as the type of perfect womanhood. She has been 
worshiped by multitudes of Christians, and she has been 
reverenced by all the disciples of Jesus as the pure Virgin 
who bore our Lord and the saintly mother who trained the 
Child in the ways of righteousness in the Nazareth home. 
In Luke we see Mary hastening away to her kinswoman, 
Elisabeth, that she may pour into the ear of that older and 
trusted friend all her tale of high favor and great grief. In 
Luke we hear Mary singing the Magnificat, that sponta- 
neous outburst of the maiden's overflowing thanksgiving to 
God: 

"My soul doth magnify the Lord, 
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 
For he hath looked upon the low estate of his handmaid: 
For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me 
blessed." 135 

In Luke alone we have a glimpse of the mother laying 
the Child in the manger and receiving the shepherds with 
modest dignity and listening to their tale of angel messages 
and songs, and then treasuring these things in her heart 

135 1. 46-48. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 233 

through all the long days and years. In Luke we see her in 
the temple, bringing the appointed sacrifice of the poor, and 
meeting Simeon and Anna, and hearing the prophecy of her 
own woe and the redemption to be accomplished through 
her son. In Luke we read of Mary searching through the 
caravan and then through the sacred city for the twelve- 
year-old Boy who had strangely disappeared, but who told 
her when he had been discovered that the temple was the 
only place in which they need have looked for him. Then 
we read again that Mary kept all these sayings in her heart. 

Tradition said that Luke painted the portrait of Mary and 
carried it with him in his evangelistic labors, and that mir- 
acles were wrought by means of it, and that it greatly 
helped him in his preaching. It has been an aid to gospel 
preaching through all the centuries that Luke has given us 
in this book the picture of this maid and mother who 
serves as a type of model womanhood. But there are 
other women in these pages besides this mother of our 
Lord. 

(3) Luke tells us all that we know about the cousin of 
the Virgin Mary, the saintly Elisabeth, the one to whom 
the Virgin turned first for confidence and consolation in the 
hour of her great trouble and joy. 

(4) Luke tells us about the saintly prophetess Anna, one 
of the quiet of the land, worshiping and fasting and praying 
night and day in the temple and waiting for the coming of 
the Lord. There they stand in those first two chapters: 
the saintly Virgin, the saintly wife, and the saintly widow 
— Mary, Elisabeth, Anna — bearing their witness that now 
a new gospel to saintly womanhood had come into the world. 

(5) Luke tells us of that company of women who min- 
istered of their substance to the twelve and their Master, 
because they had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities 
— Mary of Magdala, Joanna, Susanna, and many others. 136 
It is Luke alone who gives us this picture of Jesus, "accom- 

136 8. 2, 3. 



234 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

panied in his mission journeys — not by warriors like David, 
not by elders like Moses, not by kings and princes like the 
Herods — but by a most humble band of ministering wo- 
men." 137 "The Teacher who included in his church the 
humble, the distressed, and the repentant, is attended by 
the weak and loving rather than by a council of elders, a 
band of warriors, or a school of prophets." 138 "The 
scribes and Pharisees gathered up their robes in the streets 
and the synagogues, lest they should touch a woman, and 
held it a crime to look on an unveiled woman in public ; our 
Lord suffered a woman to minister to him out of whom he 
had cast seven devils." 139 

(6) Luke has given us that picture of the visit of Jesus 
to the home of Martha and Mary, and a glimpse at the typ- 
ically different characters of those two sister disciples. 140 

(7) Luke tells us of the widow of Nain and how the com- 
ing of Jesus turned her mourning into joy. The Lord had 
compassion upon her and said to her, "Weep not." 141 

(8) The evangelist Luke has recorded the parable of the 
importunate widow and the unjust judge. 142 These three 
widows — Anna, praying in the temple; the weeping widow 
at Nain ; the impatient, persistent, pestiferous widow of the 
parable — appear in the third Gospel alone and are in them- 
selves sufficient to make this "Gospel of Womanhood" a 
"Gospel of Widowhood" as well. A worshiping widow, 
a weeping widow, a wrangling widow; a saintly widow, a 
sorrowing widow, an insufferable widow; a widow eighty- 
four years in saintly and patient expectation of the coming 
of her Lord, an unfortunate widow mourning the loss of 
her only son, an importunate widow in as full contrast with 



187 Farrar, Messages of the Books, p. 81. 

■" Bishop Westcott. 

188 Schaff, op. cit., p. 663. 

140 10. 38-42. 

142 18. 1-8. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 235 

the quiet and patient saints of the Lord as the unjust judge 
is in contrast with the loving and patient Father of all. We 
owe the pictures of these three widows to Luke alone. 

(9) Luke tells us of the healing of that daughter of 
Abraham, whom Satan had bound for eighteen years. 143 
The ruler of the synagogue was moved with great indigna- 
tion that day, but Jesus lifted the burden from that woman's 
shoulders, loosened the bonds which had bowed her together 
for years, and permitted her to stand straight and glorify 
God before them all. The miracle might be taken as a par- 
able of the change Christianity has wrought in the condition 
of womanhood in the world. Woman is no longer bound 
and bowed; at the word of Jesus she stands straight. 
Wherever the ministry of Jesus has come she has been made 
to glorify God. 

(10) Luke has given us that story of the anointing of 
Jesus by the woman who had been a sinner, at the feast in 
the house of Simon the Pharisee. 144 Could we lose out of 
the gospel story the parable of the two debtors and this 
whole picture of the relation between our compassionate 
Lord and all truly repentant souls? This woman had 
sinned, but her love had won forgiveness; she had sinned, 
but his love had made her clean. He accepted the sacri- 
fice her affection was so willing to make ; he did not repulse 
her before the throng; he acknowledged their previous rela- 
tionship ; he promised her that she might go in peace. There 
is all the union of purity and compassion, of dignity and 
genuine affection which we would expect to find in the 
loving Saviour of men. Luke alone has given us this nar- 
rative. 145 

(11) In the other Gospels we read how Jesus defended 

14 * 13. 10-17. 

144 7- 36-50. 

""For the reasons for concluding that this narrative has no 
parallel in the other Gospels, see Andrews, The Life of Our Lord, 
pp. 281-286. 



236 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

himself against the blasphemous charge of the Pharisees 
that he was in league with Beelzebub, but it is Luke alone 
who records the fact that at the close of that defense some 
warmhearted woman in the throng lifted up her voice 
impulsively in defiance of his enemies and in utter loyalty to 
him, saying, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the 
breasts which thou didst suck." 146 It was a blessing pro- 
nounced upon Mary the mother, but it was a woman's 
tribute to the greatness and the goodness of Mary's Son. 

(12) Luke tells us that on the way to the cross a multi- 
tude of women followed him, weeping and lamenting his 
fate; but Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of 
Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and 
your children." 147 His compassion for the women and for 
the little ones was dominant within him to the very last. 

(13) Epiphanius tells us that in Marcion's version of the 
Gospel according to Luke he had inserted as a part of the 
charge made by the Jews against Jesus in the trial before 
Pilate, "This man perverts the women and the children." 
The insertion bears its witness to the attraction which the 
personality of Jesus must always have had for these more 
dependent classes of society. The children loved him and 
followed him. The women ministered to him gladly of their 
substance. Doubtless there were some of the Jews who 
thought it would be better for their wives to stay at home 
and to learn from their husbands in silence and seclusion 
and subjection there rather than to be running about the 
country after this new teacher and squandering their means 
in the support of him and his able-bodied but idle attendants. 
Doubtless there were some fathers who wondered why their 
children did not run to them so gladly and listen to them so 
eagerly as they did to this stranger ; and it must have seemed 
to them that their families were being perverted, and it 
would be just as well for this man to be put out of the 

148 11. 27. 
141 23. 27, 28. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 237 

way. They were right in thinking that a revolution was im- 
pending in those days. They were wrong in thinking that 
the death of Jesus would put an end to it. 

The rights of childhood had been recognized once for 
all. The emancipation of womanhood had been proclaimed 
for all time to come. The Saviour of the world was to be 
the Saviour of women and the Saviour of the little ones. 
Henceforth they would follow him into the kingdom of God. 
The beloved physician has given us in his Gospel this picture 
of the compassionate Christ, interested like himself in these 
weaker and more helpless members of society, and beloved 
like himself by those to whom he gave his ceaseless sym- 
pathy and service. 

6. This is The Gospel for the Poor. 

A good physician is ready to respond to any cry of need. 
His professional knowledge is at the service of all. He can 
be no respecter of persons in his practice. He must give as 
much attention to the needs of his poor patients as he does 
to those of the rich. A beloved physician will be a philan- 
thropist, a lover of man as man. The physician who works 
only for fat fees and who goes only when summoned by the 
well-to-do may make his fortune, but he will miss his great- 
est professional opportunity in the service of the poor. The 
poor people are in the majority, and when they are sick their 
need of a good physician is greater than that of the com- 
fortable and rich. With unskillful nursing and unsanitary 
surroundings and unwholesome food all the resources of the 
physician are taxed to the utmost to save the life ; and a good 
physician finds that his sympathies are poured out in the 
effort to help the needy poor. 

Luke was such a good physician. He lived and died a 
poor man, and he gave the most of his service to the poor. 
He naturally is interested to show that the gospel news he 
has to record is of immediate concern to the most needy 
classes, and among these to the humble and the poor. He 
says so much about these that this third Gospel has been 



238 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

called the Gospel of the Ebionites, the Ebionites deriving 
their name from the Hebrew word Ebion, "poor." Let us 
notice a few of the facts which lead to such a conclusion. 

(1) The angel Gabriel is sent to make the annunciation 
of the Messiah's birth, not to any royal palace, not to any 
mansion of the rich, but to a plainly furnished and pov- 
erty-stricken peasant's home. There to a humble maiden of 
the multitude of the poor in the land was his message given 
that the Messias would come. Luke alone has recorded that 
scene. 148 

(2) Mary went to see her kinswoman, Elisabeth, and 
there she sang her Magnificat : 

"He hath put down princes from their thrones, 
And hath exalted them of low degree. 
The hungry he hath filled with good things ; 
And the rich he hath sent empty away." 149 

Luke alone has recorded the song. 

(3) Luke alone tells us how this marvelous birth took 
place. He says that the Saviour was born in a stable. He 
says that the Messias was laid in a manger. He says that 
the Incarnate God could find no room in the inn. 150 Was 
this the way for the King of kings and the Lord of lords to 
enter upon his inheritance? 

Jesus is born in the extremest poverty of surroundings. 
It has been said that the shortest biography of Jesus ever 
written was that in which the apostle Paul expressed the 
bald fact and the whole astonishing truth of the incarnation 
in one word, kTtT&xt-voev, He became poor. 151 It is Luke 
who has given us the historical setting for this assertion in 
his story of the Saviour's birth. 

(4) In Matthew's story the Magi appear in Jerusalem 

148 1. 26-38. 
148 1. 52, 53- 
160 2. 7. 
M 2 Cor. 8. 9. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 239 

and make inquiry of the king in his palace and of the scribes 
who were the masters of the law. The news is thus given 
in the capital and to the chief rulers of the nation. In Luke 
no such public proclamation takes place. The only people 
who are told about this transcendent mystery of the incarna- 
tion are some shepherd lads, keeping watch by night over 
their flocks on the Bethlehem hills. Those poor fellows had 
no gifts to bring to Mary or to Jesus, but they heard the 
good news of great joy which should be to all people and 
they spread that news among the poor people everywhere. 152 

(5) According to Luke, who has made the only record of 
them, later revelations were accorded to some quiet and ob- 
scure people, Simeon and Anna, 153 not to Augustus at Rome, 
nor to Annas, the high priest at Jerusalem. 

(6) Luke is careful to tell us that when the days of puri- 
fication were ended, and the parents made their sacrifice in 
the temple, they offered a pair of turtledoves, or two young 
pigeons, the sacrifice of the very poor. 154 

(7) Luke alone tells us that when John the Baptist came 
preaching he said to the multitudes, "He that hath two coats, 
let him impart to him that hath none ; and he that hath food, 
let him do likewise." 155 John the Baptist believed that the 
sharing of superfluities in practical philanthropy would solve 
the problem of the poor, or, at least, it would help to solve 
the problem of the equitable distribution of wealth. 

(8) When Jesus was ready to begin his ministry Luke 
records his first sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth, and 
he says that the first words which Jesus uttered were these : 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 

Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the 



poor." 156 


x« 2 


8-20. 


lM 2. 


25-38. 


164 2. 


22-24. 


165 3- 


11. 


158 . 

4- 


18. 



2 4 o THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

According to Luke, the gospel of Jesus is a gospel to the 
poor. That text from Isaiah was the fitting motto for the 
beginning and the middle and the end of his ministry. It 
summarized the whole of his mission to men. 

(9) In Luke 14. 33 we find Jesus saying, "Whosoever he 
be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be 
my disciple"; and Luke alone has recorded the fact that 
when Jesus called Peter and Andrew and James and John 
and Matthew into his service they all of them left all and 
followed him. 157 

(10) Where Matthew has written the Beatitude of our 
Lord, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," Luke has it, "Blessed 
are ye poor"; 158 and where Matthew has written, "Blessed 
are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness," Luke 
has it, "Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be 
filled." 159 Where Matthew has only Beatitudes, Luke adds 
some "Woes" — "Woe unto you that are rich !" 16 ° and, 
"Woe unto you, ye that are full now! for ye shall 
hunger." 161 

(11) Luke records the parable of Dives and Lazarus, in 
which the poor beggar has the advantage at last. 162 

(12) Luke has the parable of the rich fool, who labored 
long and gained much and lost everything in one night, in- 
cluding his soul. 163 Was there ever such a vivid picture of 
utter selfishness put into so brief a form? Look at the 
possessive pronouns, "my fruits, my barns, my grain, my 
goods, my soul." No one of those things belonged to him, 
least of all his soul. That was taken away from him in one 
night, and then to whom did all the other things belong? 
Look at the personal pronouns, "What shall / do ? This will 
/ do. Then / will say to my soul." There are seven of 
these future tenses in the Greek, all showing how happy he 



157 5. 11, 28. 161 6. 25. 

168 6. 20. 1M i6. 19-31. 

169 6. 21. lM i2. 16-21. 
160 6. 24. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 241 

is going to be in some future day. They are followed by six 
present tenses, all utterly selfish, but all postponed to that 
future day which never dawned. "I will say, Eat, drink, 
rest, rejoice"; but he never lived to say it, much less really 
to do any of these things. 

(13) Luke also has that parable about the chief seats at 
the feast, closing with the promise, "He that humbleth him- 
self shall be exalted." 164 

(14) Luke tells us of that great supper to which the "poor 
and maimed and blind and lame" were invited. 165 It is a 
symbol of the gospel feast set forth in all these pages written 
by Luke. It is all for the poor and for the poorest of the 
poor. Luke is ready to go out into the highways and the 
hedges and constrain these impoverished and neglected ones 
to come in. By way of contrast, remember what Voltaire 
said to D'Alembert : "We have never pretended to enlighten 
the cobblers and the maid-servants. We leave that for the 
apostles." That is the work in which Paul delighted. That 
is the work to which Luke devoted himself. Jesus was 
anointed to preach the gospel to the poor. The gospel of his 
anointed ones will be, like this Gospel according to Luke, a 
gospel of comfort and encouragement and salvation to the 
poor. 

It may be well to suggest, before leaving this subject, that 
while Luke evidently had an overflowing sympathy for the 
poor, his book does not lead us to think that he had any 
prejudice against wealth as such, any more than Jesus had. 
Riches never harmed a man unless he tried to find his hap- 
piness in them. If he allowed them to stand between him 
and the kingdom, they made him infinitely poor. That 
seemed to be the case with the rich young ruler. He would 
not follow Jesus if he must forsake his wealth. He pre- 
ferred earthly substance to his soul's salvation. That was a 



242 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

fatal choice. He trusted to his riches for his supreme satis- 
faction and he went away sorrowful rather than satisfied. 

It was not because he was rich that he could not be saved. 
It was because he trusted in riches more than in a Redeemer. 
A poor man can do that as well as a rich man. A poor man 
can feel sure that if he had riches he could take care of 
himself, and if he trusts in riches to that extent the wealth 
he has not can keep him out of the kingdom. Jesus said, 
"Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to 
enter into the kingdom of God!" That warning was as 
applicable to those poor disciples as to any others. They, 
too, must put their trust in God rather than in mammon, in 
order to be saved. Wealth never saved a man, and wealth 
just as surely never damned a man. It is the use of wealth 
which determines its relation to a man's character. 

( i ) In the parable Abraham is in bliss, and Abraham pre- 
sumably was just as rich a man upon earth as the rich man 
whom the parable shows us in torments. The difference 
between Abraham and Dives was not one of wealth, but one 
of character. 

(2) Luke alone tells us about Zacchseus, and we learn that 
Zacchaeus was a very wealthy man ; and when he decides to 
keep half of his possessions there is no hint that either Jesus 
or Luke thought that he ought to have given up all. 

(3) In the various discussions throughout the Gospel con- 
cerning masters and servants there is no suggestion that it 
is wrong to have servants, and in one passage the Master 
plainly says that he who sits at meat is superior to him who 
serves, 166 but it is a kind of superiority which he himself 
does not desire. 

(4) Possibly Luke is more insistent than either Matthew 
or Mark upon the fact that Joseph of Arimathaea, while a 
rich man, was also a good and righteous man, and one who 
was looking for the kingdom of God. 167 

1M 22. 27. 
187 23. 50, 51. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 243 

These indications are sufficient to show that wealth turned 
to good uses was appreciated to the full by Luke and by his 
Lord. They were both of them glad enough that there were 
some women who were well-to-do and able to minister of 
their substance to the Master and his apostles in the days of 
their need. They preferred to preach and be poor them- 
selves, but they had no prejudice against those who made 
money honestly if they made good use of their money when 
made. They loved the poor and served the poor, but they 
had no objection to being served by the rich if the rich 
offered to share any portion of their possessions with them. 
They were preachers of the gospel to the poor, a gospel 
whose message was of equal importance and value to the 
rich and to which the rich were equally welcome if they 
would hear. 

7. This is The Gospel for the Outcasts. 

There is still another class with which the physician must 
perforce come into professional contact, and with which the 
preacher and the lawyer often have little to do. That is the 
class of the social outcasts. It surely is characteristic of 
this Gospel according to Luke that its sympathy reaches 
even to these. Luke 6. 35, in the margin of the Revised 
Version, reads, Jesus despaired "of no man." That might 
be made the text of the entire narrative. Luke was like his 
Master again at this point. The brand of public infamy has 
no weight for him. His sympathies went out to all who 
were in need, even as the sympathies of Jesus always had 
been manifested most to those who needed them most. 

In the Acts of Paul and Thecla we read that Paul said 
of Jesus that he was the only one who sympathized with a 
world gone astray. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we read 
that Jesus is our great High Priest, being able to sympathize 
with the ignorant and the erring. It is this compassionate 
Christ whom Luke sets before us in his pages. He is not 
seeking the self-satisfied, but the self-despairing. It was the 
sickest who had greatest need. It was those whom all others 



244 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

had deserted who most needed a friend. Jesus in this 
Gospel is the Good Shepherd seeking for the outcast in the 
farthest mountains of social ostracism or willful sin. Jesus 
was a Jew. He had had a Jewish training. He lived al- 
ways in a Jewish environment. He never had the advantage 
of foreign travel and he never came under the broadening 
influence of residence among the many races of men. Yet 
he never displays any Jewish narrowness or prejudice. He 
is interested in all men alike. No man, of whatever nation- 
ality or of whatever previous spiritual condition, is beyond 
his sympathy or the ready proffer of his help. 

(i) This is the Gospel in which we read of the prodigal 
son who wastes all his living on harlots and yet is not beyond 
reclamation, and who comes back at last to the father's home 
and to the unhesitating and undiminished love of the 
father's heart. 168 

(2) This is the Gospel of the publican Zacchaeus, generally 
regarded as a sinner with whom no respectable people ought 
to have any social dealings, but with whom Jesus went to 
lodge, and whom Jesus acknowledged as a son of Abra- 
ham. 169 

(3) This is the Gospel of the sinful woman with whom 
Simon the Pharisee would have been ashamed to show any 
personal acquaintance in public, but whom Jesus recog- 
nized and whose service he gladly accepted and whose sins 
he freely forgave. 170 

(4) This is the Gospel in which the crucified criminal, a 
coarse bandit who was given up by the state as a hopeless 
case, and was paying the penalty of his many crimes, walked 
straight into paradise with the sinless Lord. 171 

In this Gospel the harlot and the criminal, the prodigal 
and the social pariah, of whatever class or condition, are 



170 7. 36-50. 
lT1 23. 40-43- 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 245 

freely offered the society and the service of the purest and 
the best. Do the preachers of to-day associate with these 
classes? Are they on terms of familiar acquaintance with 
them? Are they continually finding converts among them? 
Are they continually proving that they who are forgiven 
most love most, and that from these classes the most devoted 
saints may come? If they are not, their gospel must be 
somewhat different from the gospel of Luke and his Lord; 
or, if they have the same gospel, their ministration of it 
must be somewhat different. 

Does not this Gospel according to Luke suggest that every 
Christian preacher to-day ought to know every exploiter of 
vice in his neighborhood and every inmate of every house of 
ill fame, and that a part of his ministry ought to be given 
to these, and that some of the chief triumphs of his ministry 
ought to be found among these? Surely, conditions have 
not so changed that we need to despair of any man or of 
any woman now, or that we ought to recognize any social 
outcasts now, to whom it is not our duty to carry the good 
news of salvation. 

The Gospel according to Luke is the gospel of the chil- 
dren, the gospel of womanhood, the gospel of the poor, and 
the gospel of the outcast and forsaken. Of course, the other 
synoptics have some suggestions of these things, but they are 
so numerous in the third Gospel and they are so frequently 
found in the portions peculiar to it that they become char- 
acteristic of the narrative written by Luke. They might be 
accounted for altogether by his knowledge of and his sym- 
pathy with the character of Jesus, who was the friend of the 
little ones and the women and the poor and the publicans 
and sinners in all his ministry. They might be accounted 
for altogether by Luke's personal character and by his over- 
flowing sympathy for all the helpless and oppressed. We 
have endeavored to show that in addition to these things 
his profession as a physician must have influenced him 
largely in his choice of materials for his gospel history. 



246 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

The sign-manual of the physician is written large over the 
pages of his narrative and is apparent also in his peculiar 
and characteristic interest in certain classes — the women 
and children, the outcast and the poor. We might continue 
our classification of the general characteristics of the Gos- 
pel according to Luke under this general head, but we pre- 
fer to turn now from Luke the physician to Luke the com- 
panion of Paul. 

8. This is The Pauline Gospel. 

Much more nearly than the other two synoptics, the Gos- 
pel according to Luke is the Gospel according to Paul. It is 
but natural that the Gentile Gospel should reflect most 
largely the theology of the apostle to the Gentiles. Luke's 
close personal association with the apostle Paul must have 
influenced him greatly in his conceptions of the scope, the 
content, and the aim of the gospel message and truth. Paul 
was more nearly a systematic theologian than any other of 
the New Testament writers. Luke has managed to get 
much more doctrine into his Gospel narrative than the other 
synoptics ; and the doctrine of Luke is substantially the doc- 
trine of Paul. 

Three times in his epistles Paul speaks of "my gospel.' , 172 
Origen, Eusebius, 173 and Jerome 174 thought that Paul meant 
by this phrase the Gospel according to Luke. That was 
his gospel because it represented his point of view through- 
out. Irenaeus 175 had written still earlier, "Luke, the com- 
panion of Paul, committed to writing the gospel preached 
by the latter." There is so much in common between the 



172 Rom. 2. 16; Rom. 16. 25; 2 Tim. 2. 8. 

173 "They say that Paul meant to refer to Luke's Gospel whenever, 
as if speaking of some Gospel of his own, he used the words 'ac- 
cording to my Gospel.' " Hist. Eccles. iii, 4. 

174 "Some suppose that whenever Paul in his Epistles makes use 
of the expression 'according to my Gospel' he means Luke's writing." 
De vir. illustr., vii. 

175 Adversus Hsereses, iii, x. 1. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 247 

Gospel written by Luke and the gospel preached by Paul 
that we readily can believe that Paul's influence is mani- 
fest in Luke's writing, but we do not believe that Paul ever 
called the third Gospel his own in the sense that he claimed 
any personal responsibility for its composition. When he 
spoke of "my gospel" he meant only the revelation made to 
himself and proclaimed in his preaching. We have no 
reason to believe that the word "gospel" was used as a 
proper name in any of the New Testament writings or was 
applied at any time to any of the books we now call by such 
title. 

The truth behind this tradition of Paul's personal appro- 
priation of the third Gospel is, as Plummer says, the fact 
that "Paul was the illuminator of Luke (Tert. iv, 2) : he en- 
lightened him as to the essential character of the gospel. 
Luke, as his fellow worker, would teach what the apostle 
taught, and would learn to give prominence to those ele- 
ments in the gospel narrative of which he made most fre- 
quent use." The old Latin proverb said, Noscitar a sociis, 
"A man is known by the company he keeps." Xo one could 
be a close companion with the apostle Paul without being 
influenced by him in both life and thought. We have seen 
that Luke was not only a companion, but a beloved physi- 
cian and a congenial friend. Coleridge used to say that no 
one was fit to be a commentator upon the Epistles of Paul 
except Martin Luther, and Luther failed because he was not 
such a gentleman as Paul. Now, Luke was a gentleman. 
He had something of the innate courtesy which characterized 
the great apostle, and in this Gospel we find the general 
impress made by the character and the creed of the apostle 
upon such a man. 

Having thus determined the nature of Luke's indebted- 
ness to Paul, we will now look for the more specific proofs 
of such relationship in the writings of these two men. 

1. We notice some remarkable parallelisms of expression 
at several points, a. In the account of the Lord's Supper 



248 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

neither Matthew nor Mark tells us that the Lord said, "Do 
this in remembrance of me." Luke, in 22. 19, and Paul, in 
I Cor. n. 24, are the only ones to record it. Matthew and 
Mark say that the Lord said, "This is my blood of the cove- 
nant," while Paul and Luke record the words as, "This cup 
is the new covenant in my blood." 176 Matthew and Mark 
connect the Eucharist, or thanksgiving, with the cup ; Paul 
and Luke connect it with the bread. These striking differ- 
ences from other accounts and close similarities between 
Paul and Luke would be sufficient in themselves to suggest 
that these two men had been associated many a time in the 
administration of this sacrament, and so had come to adopt 
the same formulation in the account of it. 

b. In 1 Cor. 15. 5 Paul tells us that the risen Lord ap- 
peared to Cephas. The only other mention of this resur- 
rection appearance in the New Testament is to be found in 
Luke 24. 34: "The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared 
to Simon." Paul and Luke seem to have regarded this as 
one of the important appearances, or at least worthy of 
mention in any account of them. All our other authorities 
are utterly silent concerning it. 

c. Some have thought that a threefold classification of 
ideas is characteristic of both Paul and Luke. We recall 
such passages in the Epistles of Paul, as 1 Cor. 13. 13, "Now 
abideth faith, hope, love, these three," and that other enu- 
meration of the essential elements in the unity of the Spirit 
set forth in Eph. 4. 4-6, falling into three groups of three: 
one body, one Spirit, one hope; one Lord, one faith, one 
baptism; one God and Father of all, transcendent, omni- 
present, immanent, over all, through all, in all. When we 
turn to Luke we find him recording the three parables of the 
lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son together, while 
Matthew has the parable of the lost sheep alone. 177 Luke 
tells us of three would-be disciples who are turned away by 

176 Luke 22. 20; I Cor. 11. 25. 
177 18. 12. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 249 

our Lord, and in the parallel passage in Matthew 178 we find 
mention of only two. Compare also the loaf, fish, and egg 
of Luke 11. 11, 12 with the bread and fish of Matt. 7. 9, 10. 

d. There are many phrases common to Paul and Luke 
and not to be met anywhere else in the New Testament. 
Long lists of these have been prepared by many authorities. 
We suggest a few samples only among them. Compare 
Luke 4. 22 with Col. 4. 6, and Luke 8. 15 with Col. 1. 10, 11, 
and Luke 6. 39 with Rom. 2. 19, and Luke 10. 8 with 1 Cor. 
10. 27, and Luke 21. 36 with Eph. 6. 18. 

(2) To these parallelisms in expression we add, in the 
second place, a remarkable similarity in the use of single 
terms. For example : 

a. The double title "Lord Jesus" is found nearly a hun- 
dred times in the Epistles of Paul. It is found only once in 
the synoptic Gospels — in Luke 24. 3. 

b. The name "Lord" is applied to Jesus again and again 
by Paul. It is never so used in the Gospel according to 
Mark except by the heathen Syrophcenician woman in 7. 28. 
The title occurs fourteen times in Luke, and so makes an- 
other connecting link between his usage and that of Paul. 

c. The proper name "Satan" is used by Paul ten times, by 
Luke seven times, by Mark six times, by Matthew four 
times, and by John only once. 

d. The word "Saviour" is not found in Matthew or Mark. 
It occurs twice in Luke, once in John, and a multitude of 
times in Paul. 

e. The word "salvation" is not found in Matthew or Mark. 
It occurs four times in Luke, once in John, on page after 
page in the writings of Paul. 

/. The word "grace" is characteristic of Paul's most fre- 
quent and emphatic usage. It never is found in Matthew 
and Mark. It occurs eight times in Luke and three times 
in John. It is found one hundred and forty-six times in the 

> 78 8. 19-22. 



250 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

New Testament, but only twenty-one times outside the writ- 
ings of Luke and Paul. 

g. "Faith" is another keyword in Paul's theology. It is 
found in Luke eleven times, in Matthew eight, in Mark five, 
and in John not at all. In the book of Acts the word occurs 
sixteen times. It is found in the New Testament two hun- 
dred and forty-three times, but only fifty-three times outside 
the writings of Luke and Paul. 

h. Repentance is joined with faith in the usage of Paul 
as one of the essentials to salvation. The word "repent- 
ance," fierdvoia, is found in Luke five times, in Matthew 
two, in Mark only once, and in John not at all. It occurs in 
the book of Acts six times. 

i. Paul joins mercy with grace and peace in some of his 
salutations. The word "mercy," lAeoc, is found in Luke six 
times, in Matthew three, and in Mark and John and the book 
of Acts not at all. To Luke all the perfection of God would 
seem to be summed up in his quality of mercy. In the 
Sermon on the Mount, as reported by Matthew, the climax 
of command is found in the words, "Be ye therefore perfect, 
even as your Father in heaven is perfect," 179 but Luke 
chronicles the corresponding command in his Sermon on the 
Plain in these words, "Be ye therefore merciful, as your 
Father is also merciful." 18 ° He who attains this height 
will find nothing beyond him. 

We may say, in general, that Luke's vocabulary is much 
more Pauline than that of the other gospel writers. Luke 
has one hundred and one words in common with Paul which 
are not to be found in any other writers of the New Testa- 
ment books. Matthew has only thirty-two and Mark 
twenty-two and John twenty-one. 

(3) However, it is when we come to the doctrinal fea- 
tures they have in common that the relationship between the 
writings of Luke and Paul becomes most apparent, 

179 Matt. 5. 48, 
w 6. 36. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 251 

a. The third Gospel furnishes the historical background 
for just such teaching and preaching as that of the great 
apostle of the Gentiles, Paul. In its narrative Israel is re- 
jected and the way is opened for the reception of the Gen- 
tiles into the kingdom of God just as clearly as in the ninth, 
tenth, and eleventh chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, 
(a) In the first sermon in the ministry of Jesus he made 
it apparent to his fellow townsmen in Nazareth that the 
heathen might enjoy the blessings they were ready to 
despise. 181 (b) In the middle of his ministry Jesus answers 
the question, "Are there few that be saved?" by declaring, 
"They shall come from the east and west, and from the 
north and south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God ; 
but ye yourselves shall be cast forth without." 182 (c) At 
the close of his ministry Jesus told his disciples that it was 
written that repentance and remission of sins should be 
preached in his name unto all the nations. 183 From the 
beginning to the end the Gentiles are included within the 
scope of the gospel salvation. 

b. In thorough consistency with this fundamental position 
we find a spirit of wide-reaching and all-inclusive tolerance 
characterizing this Gospel even as it did the preaching of 
Paul. See how this is apparent in the attitude of Jesus as 
pictured here toward the Samaritans. The Jews had no 
dealings with the Samaritans. They considered them even 
worse than Gentile dogs, (a) When the Samaritan vil- 
lagers showed themselves inhospitable James and John 
were ready to call down fire from heaven upon them, in the 
spirit of Elijah. But Jesus declared that the intolerant 
spirit of Elijah was not the spirit of the gospel he had come 
to preach. That gospel would include and in due time would 
win the Samaritans as well as the Jews. 184 (b) Again, 

m 4- 24-27. 
,M 13. 23-29. 
m 24. 47- 

184 9. 52-55. 



252 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

when ten lepers were healed and only one returned to give 
thanks unto God, both Jesus and the evangelist call atten- 
tion to the fact that the one grateful man was a Samaritan 
stranger. 185 (c) Again, in the Master's parable of the one 
who proved himself neighbor to the man who fell among 
thieves he chose as the hero of that tale no Jewish priest or 
Levite, but a good Samaritan. 186 It is in the third Gospel 
alone that we find these three references to the Samaritans, 
and they all breathe the spirit of tolerance and friendliness 
which was to characterize a gospel preached to and for all 
men. 

c. The emphatic and persistent presentation of the per- 
sonality of the Holy Spirit is characteristic of both Luke and 
Paul. Where Matthew reads, "If ye then, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much 
more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things 
to them that ask him ?" 187 , Luke sums up all good things 
in that one greatest gift of the Father to men and says, 
"How much more shall your heavenly Father give the 
Hfoly Spirit to them that ask him?" 188 In the third Gos- 
pel we find eighteen references to the Holy Spirit, thir- 
teen of them in four chapters; and in the whole of Mat- 
thew there are only twelve, and in Mark only six. Luke 
therefore has as many as Matthew and Mark combined. 

If we were to name the three features in which the doc- 
trinal teaching of Luke and Paul are most alike, we would 
mention: (i) The universal scope of the gospel, because of 
the marvelous grace and all-inclusive love shown by God 
to men. (2) The importance of the work of the Holy 
Spirit. (3) The emphasis laid upon the real humanity of 
Jesus. We turn next to consider this characteristic of the 
Gospel according to Luke. 



188 17. 11-19. 
186 10. 30-37. 

187 Matt. 7. 11. 

188 Luke 11. 13. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 253 

It is the Gospel of the real humanity of Jesus. It is the 
Gospel of Jesus as our Brother-Man. It is the Gospel of 
the Kinsman-Redeemer of the race. Here for the first 
time in the New Testament we meet the word "redemp- 
tion" — "He hath visited and wrought redemption for his 
people," Zacharias sings. 189 We are told that Anna spoke 
of Jesus to all them that looked for redemption in Jeru- 
salem. 190 The two disheartened disciples on their way to 
Emmaus said, "We trusted that it had been he which should 
have redeemed Israel." 191 Redemption by a genuine in- 
carnation — that is the great theme of this Gospel. 

9. This is The Gospel of Jesus, our Brother-Man. 

( 1 ) In early life. It begins by showing that the birth and 
infancy and childhood of Jesus were those of any normal 
human life. a. Luke alone tells us about the poverty of the 
surroundings into which the baby boy came, born of a wo- 
man, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, wrapped in 
the swaddling clothes and laid in the stable straw. 192 

b. Luke tells us that he was circumcised like every other 
Jewish boy. 193 It was the first shedding of redeeming 
blood. It was his first external identification with the reli- 
gious life of his race. 

c. Luke also tells us about his presentation in the temple. 194 
Born under the law, it became him to fulfill all righteous- 
ness. 

d. Luke records the fact that the child Jesus grew as 
every other child grew, increasing in size and increasing in 
strength, and correspondingly increasing in wisdom as the 
days and the years went by. 195 The boy Jesus is neither 
omniscient nor omnipotent, but just a normal, natural, 
healthy, and growing boy, according to Luke. 

e. Luke tells us how Jesus went up to Jerusalem to cele- 

189 1. 68. 193 2. 21. 

180 2. 38. m 2. 22. 

191 24. 21. 195 2. 40. 



lM 2. 4-7. 



254 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

brate his first passover as a son of the Law, and how he sat 
in the temple in the midst of the teachers, both hearing 
them, and asking them questions. 196 

/. Luke adds that through all his minority in the home 
at Nazareth Jesus was subject to his parents, as any lad 
would be expected to be. 197 

g. Then, lest anyone should think that the youth of Jesus 
was not like his childhood or like the youth of any other lad 
in its gradual development of all its powers, Luke tells us 
again that Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in 
favor with God and men. 198 It is Luke alone who has 
given us this information concerning the babe and the boy 
and the youth, and he has shown us that Jesus was just like 
us in his human birth and growth, glorifying babyhood and 
obedient childhood by entering fully into their estate. 

(2) At the close of life. When we turn to the close of 
the narrative we find that Luke is very careful to show us 
how Jesus is very human at every point, a. Luke tells us 
that when Jesus wept over Jerusalem he wept audibly, sob- 
bing aloud in his profound grief, genuinely human and 
pitiful. 199 He wept at the grave of Lazarus, but there he 
wept silently. John has recorded that weeping, 200 but 
neither John nor Luke nor any other evangelist has ever 
recorded the fact that Jesus laughed. He was a "man of 
sorrows, and acquainted with grief" ; but he must have had 
some moments of relaxation. We feel sure that he must 
have smiled many and many a time, and it would be strange 
indeed if there were not occasions when he was provoked 
into hearty laughter. He entered so thoroughly into sym- 
pathy with the joys as well as the sorrows of those who were 
his friends that he must have laughed with them sometimes. 
The picture of normal boyhood which Luke presents in this 
Gospel would be incomplete if we were not allowed to 

198 2. 42-46. 1H 19. 41-44. 

m 2. 51. ~John 11. 35- 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 255 

imagine in it certain moments of unrestrained merriment 
in the enjoyment of innocent fun. We think that he would 
have been more likely to pipe and dance and laugh with the 
other children of Nazareth in their games in the market 
place than to join in any funeral performances or mock- 
mourning. His youth was a happy one, but he became a 
Man of sorrows, and as he treads the thorny path to the 
cross with suffering and tears Luke shows us that he was 
very man at every step. 

b. Luke records that an angel appeared to him in Geth- 
semane, strengthening him. 201 Truly man, he needed heav- 
enly aid. 

c. Luke alone tells us of the extremity of human weak- 
ness and physical agony through which Jesus passed in 
Gethsemane, in which "his sweat became as it were great 
drops of blood falling down upon the ground." 202 

d. Luke alone tells us that in that Gethsemane arrest Jesus 
called himself again by his favorite title by means of which 
he so continually identified himself with the human race 
and proclaimed his brotherhood with all other men, for he 
said, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" 203 

e. Luke has the record that in utter human dependence 
upon the Father in the hour and article of death he said, 
"Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." 204 

/. Luke alone tells us that the centurion who stood by and 
saw him suffer and die was so impressed that "he glorified 
God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man." 205 

g. Luke tells us that after his resurrection, in the appear- 
ance to the assembled disciples on that first Easter evening, 
Jesus sought to convince them that his incarnate humanity 
had survived death and the grave, and that his human 
identity was unimpaired. He said to them, "See my hands 



22. 43. ""23. 46. 

'22.44. *°°23. 47. 

•22. 48. 



256 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

and my feet, that it is I myself : handle me, and see ; for a 
spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me having." 
Then he took a piece of broiled fish "and ate before 
them." 206 As at the beginning of his life, so at the close 
of his life, Luke insists upon the Lord's real humanity. 
There is no human weakness or limitation in which Jesus 
does not share. He is one with us in everything but sin; 
and he was one with us after the resurrection and in the 
ascension as well. 

In his birth and early life Luke has shown us that the 
Lord was really and truly man. Through the closing days 
and in his death Luke has made it equally clear that Jesus 
was genuinely human to the last. How about the years of 
his active ministry? To us there is no better proof of the 
real and genuine humanity of Jesus than his prayers afford 
us ; and no one of the evangelists has emphasized the Lord's 
need and practice of prayer as Luke has. Through all his 
ministry he shows us the man Jesus continually exercis- 
ing the grace of true spiritual dependence. Luke repeatedly 
tells us that Jesus was praying when the other evangelists 
say nothing about it. 

(3) In the life of prayer, a. We read in the other Gos- 
pels about the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, but Luke 
alone tells us that it was as Jesus was being baptized and 
praying that the heaven was opened for the descent of the 
Holy Spirit and the witness of the heavenly Voice. 207 

b. We read in some of the other Gospels about the cleans- 
ing of the leper and the immediately succeeding collision 
with the religious authorities. Luke alone tells us that be- 
tween these two events Jesus withdrew himself into the 
deserts and prayed. 208 

c. We read in the other Gospels of the choice of the 
twelve. Luke tells us that that choice was made in the 



206 24. 39-43. 

207 3- 21. 

"• 5. 16. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 257 

early morning, after Jesus had continued in prayer all night 
long upon the mountain alone. 209 

d. Luke tells us that it was after Jesus had been praying 
apart that Peter made the great confession, and Jesus an- 
swered it with his first prediction of his own future suf- 
fering and certain murder. 210 

e. Others tell us about the transfiguration experience, but 
Luke alone informs us that Jesus had gone up into that 
mountain to pray, and that as he was praying the fashion 
of his countenance was altered, and he was transfigured be- 
fore the disciples' eyes. 211 

/. Matthew records the prayer prescribed for the disciples, 
"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name," as 
a part of the Sermon on the Mount. Luke alone tells us that 
this prayer was first given when Jesus had been praying in 
a certain place, and when he ceased one of his disciples had 
asked him, "Lord, wilt thou teach us to pray?" 212 

g. Luke tells us that Jesus said to Peter, "Simon, Simon, 
behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as 
wheat : but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail 
not." 213 

h. Luke records that Jesus prayed on the cross, "Father, 
forgive them ; for they know not what they do." 214 

i. Luke adds that Jesus made his last breath a breath of 
prayer. He cried with a loud voice, "Father, into thy hands 
I commend my spirit : and having said this, he gave up the 
ghost." 215 

Jesus needed to pray just as much as we need to pray. 
He prayed to God for strength because he needed strength. 
He prayed to God for guidance because he needed guidance. 
He prayed to God for knowledge because he needed enlight- 
enment. He prayed for miracle-working power, and it was 



108 6. 12, 13 
M0 9. 18-22 



9. 28, 29. ™23. 46. 

M n. 1-4. 



258 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

granted him in answer to his holy prayer. He asked for 
the Holy Spirit, and by his aid he lived a holy life. He is 
our perfect Pattern in prayer. He is our Prince of faith. 
Luke has emphasized this fact as no other New Testament 
writer has. We are not surprised, therefore, that he not 
only has given us the example of Jesus in the practice of 
the prayer life, but he also has preserved for us some addi- 
tional instruction given by Jesus concerning prayer. 

a. Luke alone tells us that Jesus spoke a parable to the 
end that men ought always to pray and not to faint. 216 

b. He tells us that Jesus in that parable declared that the 
elect of God cry to him day and night. 217 

c. Luke alone gives us those three prayer parables of 
Jesus, the importunate friend, 218 the importunate widow, 219 
and the pompously praying Pharisee and the piously pray- 
ing publican. 220 They all teach by contrast. You do not 
need to pray like the importunate friend, for you pray to a 
Father in heaven who is not asleep in bed and who is more 
ready to give than you are to ask. You do not need to 
behave like that importunate widow, for you do not pray 
to an unjust judge, but to a loving Father who will avenge 
you speedily. You must not pray like that self-announcing 
Pharisee, but like the self -denouncing and self -renouncing 
publican. 

d. Matthew 25. 13 and Mark 13. 33 tell us that the Lord 
exhorted the disciples to "watch" in view of the coming 
perils and trials of the church; but Luke adds "at every 
season, making supplication, that ye may prevail." 221 

e. Luke alone tells us that when they had come to the 
garden of Gethsemane Jesus exhorted the disciple band, 
"Pray that ye enter not into temptation." 222 It was only 
after having given this final warning and command that he 

820 18. 9-14. 
431 2i. 36. 

**22. 40. 



219 18. 


I. 


217 18. 


7. 


218 II. 


5-9. 


818 18. 


1-8. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 259 

went on into his own spiritual wrestling and final victory 
through prayer. 

If the disciples of Jesus had learned to pray as their 
Master prayed, their victory would have been as sure and 
as continuous as his own. He was their Master in the 
practice and the precept of prayer, as in everything 
else. Luke recognizes him as such. That title "Master," 
kmoTdTTjs, is peculiar to Luke in the New Testament. He 
alone records the fact that the disciples gave this name to 
Jesus ; and in the third Gospel we find it seven times. 223 

(4) In social life. It is characteristic of the third Gospel 
that it pictures Jesus as entering into all the social relations 
of life. Much more frequently than the other evangelists 
Luke tells us how Jesus was entertained in private homes, 
was invited to dinners, and sat at meat with various hosts 
and sometimes with many guests; and much of the teach- 
ing which Matthew represents Jesus as giving in public dis- 
courses we find Luke recording in connection with these 
social events. 

a. Luke tells us that a certain Simon, a Pharisee, invited 
Jesus to eat with him, but neglected to show him the usual 
courtesies offered to guests, and when Jesus was anointed 
by the sinful woman Simon was told the parable of the two 
debtors, and was thus gently rebuked. 224 

b. Luke tells us of the reception in the house of Martha 
and Mary, and of Martha's ministration to the bodily needs 
of the company while Mary ministered to the Master's 
wearied soul. 225 

c. Luke tells us how another Pharisee asked Jesus to dine 
with him, and while they were sitting at the table Jesus 
uttered that scathing rebuke of Pharisaical hypocrisy and 
sin. 226 Evidently Jesus did not consider the acceptance of 

838 s. 5; 8- 24; 8. 45; 9. 33; 9- 49; 17. 13. 
"7. 36-50. 
225 10. 38-42. 
228 11. 37-52. 



260 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

any man's hospitality a sufficient reason for blinking any 
man's sin. 

d. Luke alone tells us that on a certain Sabbath Jesus was 
dining in the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees, 
and it was there that the cure of the dropsical man took 
place. 227 When he saw those who were bidden choosing 
the chief seats he rebuked their selfishness. 228 He told his 
host that he ought not to invite such people to dinner, but 
he would be blessed if he would invite only the poor, the 
maimed, the lame, and the blind. 229 Then he spoke the 
parable of the great supper, the invitation to which was 
slighted by the guests first bidden, and to which the peo- 
ple filling the highways and the hedges were constrained 
to come. 230 

e. By Luke only we are told of the joyful hospitality given 
to Jesus in the home of Zacchaeus and the glad issue in sal- 
vation to that house. 231 

/. By Luke alone we are told of his breaking bread in the 
home of the two disciples at Emmaus, and of their recog- 
nition of him in the familiar manner of his doing it. 232 
The table manners of Jesus must have been well known in 
many a humble home in Palestine. 

In all the instances we have mentioned Luke alone has 
preserved the picture of the entertainment of Jesus by pri- 
vate persons in their homes. We learn from these narra- 
tives that Jesus did not refuse an invitation to dinner upon 
the Sabbath day, but, on the contrary, on that day and every 
day he seems to have accepted without hesitation the prof- 
fered hospitality of rich and poor, of friends and foes. We 
learn, too, that he was just as faithful to his ministry on 
these social occasions as he was in the synagogues or at any 
other place. People had their sins forgiven while he sat at 
dinner. Salvation came to the home in which he was 



227 14. 1-6. £30 i4. 15-24. 

223 14. 7-». ""19. 6-9. 

228 14. 12-14. 282 24. 30, 31. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 261 

entertained. Some of his most stinging rebukes were ad- 
ministered to those who sat at meat with him. Some of his 
most precious parables and teachings were first given on 
these social occasions. 

g. In the parables peculiar to the third Gospel there are 
many glimpses of home life, showing how our Lord had 
been observant of many domestic experiences. The master 
of the house who rises up and shuts to the door and makes 
all safe for the night, the neighbor who comes knocking 
loudly at midnight and asking to borrow a few loaves of 
bread, the woman raising a great dust and upsetting the 
whole house until she finds the lost coin, the great banquet 
with music and dancing to celebrate the prodigal's return — 
all these things Luke lets us know that the Lord had seen 
and had made note of for use in his preaching. In the 
parable of the mustard seed Mark says that the seed was 
sown in the earth, 233 and Matthew says in the field, 234 
but Luke says that a man sowed it in his own garden. 235 

10. This is The Gospel of Praise. 

We close this list of the characteristics of the third Gospel 
by noting some of the things which recall the personality of 
the author with his sunny disposition which made him be- 
loved, and caused his praise to be sung in all the churches. 

(1) The narrative begins and it ends with worship in the 
temple. The first picture we see is that of the multitude of 
the people praying at the hour of incense, 236 and the last 
picture shown us is that of the band of disciples, spending 
their time continually in the temple praising God. 237 

(2) The first chapters are filled with hymns of praise. 
We find there the Magnificat, the song of Mary; 238 the 
Benedictus, the song of Zacharias ; 239 the Ave Maria, the 
angel's salutation; 240 the Gloria in Excelsis, the song of the 



388 1. 46-55. 
*" 1. 68-79. 
"° 1. 28-33. 



M 4. 


3i. 


~I3 


. 31. 


3,5 13. 


19. 


■"I. 


10. 



262 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

angels; 241 and the Nunc Dimittis, the song of Simeon. 242 
Schaff says of these : "They are the last of Hebrew psalms, 
as well as the first of Christian hymns. They can be liter- 
ally translated back into the Hebrew without losing their 
beauty." 243 

They evidently belong to just this border line between the 
two dispensations. They are much more like the ancient 
psalms than the later Christian hymns are wont to be. 
They have just enough of the dawning light of the new 
order to distinguish them from the songs written before the 
Dayspring from on high had visited God's people. The 
Jewish forms and figures are used to express a new hope 
and a new joy. The promise made to Abraham is fulfilled. 
It is the house of David which is to be blessed. It is the 
glory of the house of Israel which is revealed. But redemp- 
tion is wrought; salvation has come; the day has dawned; 
the whole heaven is lit up with hope; the whole heart is 
filled with peace. These are Christian hymns, but there 
is an indefiniteness about them which marks them as belong- 
ing to the very beginning. There is no redemption by blood. 
There is no forecasting of the cross. These things came in 
later. They do not belong here in the first joy that light has 
shined upon those who sat in darkness and the shadow of 
death. 

This Gospel begins with songs and ends with songs, and 
there is singing and rejoicing all the way along. The Gos- 
pel according to Matthew began with the wailing at Beth- 
lehem for the children who were no more and it ended with 
sevenfold "Woes" upon the Pharisees who would not be 
saved. In the Gospel according to Luke the saints are sing- 
ing from the beginning to the close. Bishop Alexander said 
of the Magnificat: "It is the highest specimen of the subtle 
influence of the song of purity, so exquisitely described by 



241 



2. 14. 



242 2. 29-32. 

243 Schaff, op. cxt., p. 665. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 263 

Browning. It is the Pippa Passes among the liturgies of 
the world." 244 What he has said of Mary's song we might 
well say of the entire Gospel. It is a message whose melody 
has transformed the hearts of men. 

(3) More often than in any other Gospel we are told that 
those who received special benefits glorified God for them. 
Matthew and Mark note this fact occasionally, but Luke 
notes it again and again. 245 Plummer calls our attention 
further to the fact that the expression "praising God" 246 
is almost peculiar to Luke in the New Testament. The 
phrase "blessing God" found in Luke 1. 64; 2. 28 occurs 
elsewhere in the New Testament only in James 3. 9. The 
phrase, "to give praise to God," is found only in Luke 18. 43. 

(4) In the two books of Matthew and Mark the noun 
"joy" occurs seven times, while in Luke and Acts it is found 
thirteen times. In Matthew and Mark the verb "to rejoice" 
occurs eight times, while in Luke and Acts it is found 
nineteen times. Do not these facts suggest that Luke was 
about twice as joyful as the ordinary man, and that he was 
praising God and glorifying God so continually that it 
seemed to him to be the natural thing to do? 

(5) The ministry of angels to Jesus and to the disciples 
is emphasized more frequently in the third Gospel than in 
any of the others; and angels are mentioned twenty-two 
times in the book of Acts. The angel Gabriel stands at the 
entrance to this Gospel, as the messenger of God to both 
Zacharias and Mary, foretelling the birth of both John the 
Forerunner and Jesus the Messiah. An angel appears to the 
shepherds with the good news of the Saviour's birth and 
then a whole choir of the heavenly host sings for great joy. 
At the time of the great confession Jesus promised that the 
Son of man would come "in his own glory, and the glory of 



244 Alexander, The Leading Ideas of the Gospels, p. 114. 

346 2. 20; 5. 25, 26; 7. 16; 13. 13; 17. 15; 18. 43. 

246 2. 13; 2. 20; 19. 37; 24. 53; and Acts 2. 47; 3. 8; 3. 9. 



264 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

the Father, and of the holy angels." 247 He told his dis- 
ciples, "Every one who shall confess me before men, him 
shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God : 
but he that denieth me in the presence of men shall be 
denied in the presence of the angels of God." 248 

He told the disciples about the woman who found the lost 
coin, and then added, "Even so, I say unto you, there is joy 
in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that 
repenteth." 249 He declared that those who attain to the 
resurrection from the dead are equal to the angels, and die 
no more. 250 . In the wilderness of temptation the devil 
quoted the promise of the psalm to Jesus: "He shall give 
his angels charge concerning thee, to guard thee," 251 and 
in the garden of agony that promise was fulfilled, for Luke 
records that "there appeared to him an angel from heaven, 
strengthening him." 252 As the Virgin had had her 
angelic vision in the beginning, so the holy women have 
their vision of angels at the tomb. 253 Here and there 
throughout the Gospel we hear echoes of angel songs and 
catch glimpses of angel wings. The whole narrative is 
brightened with their presence and their praise. 

VI. The Gospel and the Man Luke 

Our knowledge of the man helps us in our study of the 
Gospel, for we find that the characteristics of the man are 
the characteristics of the book. Some men may have the 
power of concealing their own personality in their writ- 
ings, as Shakespeare had. We can learn little or nothing 
about Shakespeare himself by reading his plays. Most 
men, however, write their own characters into the pro- 



247 9- 


26. 


248 12. 


8,9. 


■"15. 


10. 


260 20. 


36. 


251 4- 


10. 


™22. 


43- 


™2 4 . 


23- 



The passage is of somewhat doubtful authenticity. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE 265 

ductions of their pen. Charles Lamb put his own genial 
disposition into the Essays of Elia. Thomas Carlyle put 
his own crabbed self into his pamphlets and criticisms 
and histories and prophecies. As we read them we know 
what sort of a man wrote them. They are self-revealing. 
Carlyle could not write another man's biography with- 
out writing his autobiography between the lines. No more 
could Luke. He writes the biography of the Perfect 
Life, but he writes it out of a heart in perfect sympathy 
with that transcendent Life. He has a most beautiful sub- 
ject with which to deal, but the subject alone would never 
have enabled him to make the most beautiful book ever 
written. That Life Beautiful had to be written into a 
Book Beautiful by a soul beautiful as they. 

It was Herder who suggested that Luke "might be called 
the evangelist of Philanthropy," and he thought that such 
a Gospel as this was "in keeping with the character of a 
man who had made numerous journeys among the Greeks 
and Romans with Paul, and who dedicated his writings to 
a Theophilus." 254 It was such a book as a lover of men 
would write for a lover of God. 

Therefore we never shall cease to be thankful that, al- 
though many others had taken in hand to write a narrative 
of these matters before him, Luke felt constrained to say, 
"It seemed good to me also, most excellent Theophilus, to 
write these things for thee accurately and in order." The 
personality revealed in that phrase, "me also," finds explicit 
mention in that first sentence of preface and dedication 
alone ; but the influence of that personality is apparent to all 
who have eyes to see, and who will take the trouble to look 
for it, in every following page of the Gospel. Dante called 
Luke "the writer of the story of the gentleness of 
Christ," 255 and only a gentle and lovable spirit could have 
written a story so beautiful in style and in content as this. 

264 Herder, Vom Erloser der Menchen, p. 218. 
386 De Monarchia, i, 16. 



266 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Ian MacLaren has said, "There are times when one wishes 
he had never read the New Testament Scriptures — that he 
might some day open the Gospel according to Luke, and 
the most beautiful book in the world might come upon his 
soul like sunrise." Has anyone ever been able to read this 
Gospel through without feeling that a dayspring from on 
high had visited him, to shine upon those who sit in dark- 
ness and the shadow of death, and to guide his feet into the 
way of peace ? Can anyone read it now without feeling the 
gospel sunshine flooding his life? 



PART IV 
THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 



PART IV 
THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 

I. Definitions 

It will be well to define our terms first of all. I. The 
Gospels are the four narratives of the life of Christ found 
in our New Testament. 2. The synoptic Gospels are the 
first three Gospels as distinguished from the fourth. They 
are given this title because they present the same general 
view of the life of Christ. According to the composition 
of the Greek word avvoTpcs, they "view" that life "together." 
They resemble each other sufficiently to form a related 
group. The fourth Gospel is so peculiar that it cannot be 
put into this group. Expressed in homely phrase, the syn- 
optic Gospels are like birds of a feather which flock to- 
gether: the fourth Gospel is like an eagle which flies alone. 

3. The Synoptic Problem is furnished in the fact that 
while the first three Gospels remarkably resemble each other 
in general, they strangely differ with each other in partic- 
ulars. Written in parallel columns they present curiously 
intermingled phenomena of apparent originality and seeming 
plagiarism. At various points each appears to be independ- 
ent, while in other places all appear to be interdependent. 
Their narratives of incidents and discourses now approach 
each other, now coalesce, now separate, are now identical 
and now different. Their relationship is sometimes clear and 
sometimes obscure. It is like a series of dissolving pictures 
in which one unexpectedly replaces the other ; and it is diffi- 
cult to define the beginning or the end of any of them. 
There must be some reason for these things. There must be 
some explanation for these shifting phenomena. 

269 



270 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Why are there these parallelisms and these divergences? 
Why are the synoptics so like each other and yet so unlike? 
The Problem of the Synoptic Gospels is to find a satisfactory 
and a sufficient answer to these questions. It is the most 
difficult problem of present-day New Testament criticism. 
Possibly as much has been written about it as about any 
other problem in the history of literature, but it has not been 
solved as yet. It is the Great Enigma of the beginning 
of our New Testament canon as the Apocalypse is the Great 
Enigma of its close. All of the solutions of the Synoptic 
Problem thus far offered are largely guesses in the dark. 
None of them is absolutely satisfactory. None of them 
may be more than partly right. 

In some places the synoptics are identical in their state- 
ments. In other places they are like each other. In still 
other places they differ with each other. In a few instances 
they contradict each other. These are the facts. What 
theory of their origin will account for these facts ? That is 
our problem. We will look at it a little more closely now. 

II. Resemblances 

Professor Sanday has said, "Taking the three Gospels 
together, in all their elements, the total impression which 
they convey is essentially harmonious and consistent." * All 
will agree that this is true. The synoptics tell the same 
story and they tell it in much the same way. They resemble 
each other not only in general but also in various minor 
particulars. 

i. There is an occasional absolute identity of language. 
This is never very extensive, but it is sufficiently striking 
when it occurs. 

(i) In one quotation from the Old Testament, found in 
all of the synoptists, in the original the identity of language 
reaches through fifteen consecutive words. Here Matthew 

Expository Times, xx, p. 113. 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 271 

and Mark agree in saying, "The Lord said to my lord, Sit 
upon my right hand, until I may place thy enemies under 
thy feet," and Luke agrees with them for fifteen words, but 
diverges from them in the end in order to agree with the 
Septuagint which reads, "until I may place thy enemies as 
the footstool of thy feet." 2 Another striking instance of 
agreement between the three synoptists through fourteen 
consecutive words is in their quotation from Isaiah, "A voice 
of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the 
Lord, make his paths straight," and it is remarkable that in 
this case they all agree in misquoting the Septuagint which 
reads, "Make straight the paths of our God," and this is the 
correct rendering of the Hebrew original. 3 

(2) In one case in the narrative portion of the synoptists 
absolute identity, including the order of the words in the 
original Greek, extends through the twelve words, "the five 
loaves, and the two fishes, having looked up to heaven, he 
blessed." 4 In no case in the narratives does such agreement 
extend through more than twelve words, and it seldom goes 
beyond four or six words. 

(3) In reporting the sayings of Jesus the synoptists will 
sometimes agree in as many as eight successive words, but 
there are not half a dozen instances where absolute agree- 
ment is maintained through five consecutive words. If they 
all quoted from the Old Testament the same text and the 
same passage, and if they all quoted correctly, we would 
have an absolute agreement at these points. Such absolute 
agreement never is found. If they all reported the same 
words of Jesus and reported them exactly, we would have 
perfect agreement in these portions of their narratives. 
Such agreement never occurs, extending through more than 
eight consecutive words. This is a strange fact. How can 
we account for these resemblances in absolute identity of 



2 Matt. 2.2. 44 ; Mark 12. 36 ; Luke 20. 42, 43. 

3 Matt. 3. 3; Mark 1. 3; Luke 3. 4. 

4 Matt. 14. 19 ; Mark 6. 41 ; Luke 9. 16. 



2J2. THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

phraseology, extending for a short measure only and then 
ceasing suddenly and for no apparent good reason ? 

2. There are certain very peculiar words found in our 
New Testament. Possibly the most puzzling of them all is 
the word emovoiog, translated "daily" in the so-called Lord's 
Prayer, in the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread." 
No one ever has been certain that that word was rightly 
translated. No one is sure of its meaning to-day. Scholar- 
ship always has been divided upon the question. No suffi- 
cient data exist upon the basis of which one may come to 
any final conclusion. The word is not found in ancient lit- 
erature before the time of the New Testament. It occurs 
in only this one connection in the New Testament. It never 
is found in later literature, except in quotations from this 
source. The Greek and Latin Fathers never could agree 
upon its meaning, and modern scholars have no reason to 
agree which they had not. 

Now, if such a rare and absolutely unique expression as 
this were found in only one of our synoptists we might think 
that he had coined it for his own use ; but strangely enough 
this strange word is found in both Matthew and Luke. How 
can we account for that fact ? Did Jesus use some Aramaic 
term which had been translated into this unusual Greek 
expression by some one not well acquainted with the lan- 
guage and did both Matthew and Luke repeat this oral or 
written translation? At many other points we come upon 
peculiarities of language which are common to two or to 
three of the synoptists and suggest a common source and 
raise the same question. 

3. Sometimes a narrative is told in the same method by 
the three synoptists, when that method is not one which 
naturally would occur to three independent writers. Take 
the account of the healing of the paralytic at Capernaum for 
an example. The synoptists all tell us how Jesus turned 
upon the scribes on that occasion and how in the midst of 
his address to them he suddenly halted in the middle of a 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 273 

sentence and turned to the paralytic and commanded him to 
rise and go home. At the same point they all insert the 
same parenthesis, "Then saith he to the sick of the palsy," 
"He saith to the sick of the palsy," "H^e said unto him that 
was palsied." 5 It is remarkable that the three should 
insert the parenthesis at exactly the same place in the broken 
narrative. That one writer independently should choose 
this method of telling the story would be possible. That two 
should agree in it independently would seem improbable. 
That three should do so is next to impossible. 

In the account of the cure of the Gerasene demoniac there 
is a similar parenthesis, thrown in to explain what has gone 
before. First we have the demoniac's plea, "I adjure thee 
by God, torment me not," and then the reason for that 
adjuration is appended : "For he said unto him, Come forth, 
thou unclean spirit, out of the man." In Mark and in Luke 
we have the same inverted order, first the remonstrance 
and then the command which caused it. 6 The natural order 
of narration would have been to give the command first and 
the resulting remonstrance afterward. That one should 
choose to invert the order would seem strange. That two 
should agree in doing it independently would seem most 
improbable. Other such instances might be given. They 
all go to prove that these stories for some reason or another 
had taken a stereotyped form, which is reproduced by each 
narrator. 

4. In the main the synoptists follow the same order of 
events. They resemble each other in the chronological 
arrangement of their material. Sometimes we have a series 
of events in one of them, leading up to a crisis in the career 
of Jesus, and then suddenly we seem to lose the thread of 
the narrative; and we turn to another of the synoptists to 
see what happened next, only to find that he has failed us 
at the very same point. Then we turn to the third, sure that 

5 Matt. 9. 6; Mark 2. 11; Luke 5.24. 

6 Mark 5. 7, 8 ; Luke 8. 28, 29. 



274 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

one at least will tell us what we so much would like to know, 
and we find that the same period of silence intervenes in his 
narrative at exactly the same juncture of events. Then 
after a certain interval of days or months the three will take 
up the story again at exactly the same point. That is what 
we mean by saying that the synoptists in general have the 
same order. That order would seem to be fixed in the Gos- 
pel according to Mark. Frequently when Matthew diverges 
from the order of Mark, Luke will be found to agree with 
Mark, and, on the other hand when Luke diverges from 
Mark's order at any point, Matthew frequently will follow 
Mark in that place. Matthew and Luke never agree in 
transposing the order of Mark. 

5. What has just been said leads us to the next statement, 
that the synoptists strangely agree in the selection of their 
material. The life of Jesus was the most interesting and the 
most remarkable life ever known to the race. It was only 
thirty-three years in length; but out of those superlatively 
important years our Gospels possibly give us incidents from 
only forty days. There must have been many other days 
just as full of interest and excitement as those which they 
have recorded. Out of the multitudes of the days why have 
they decided to tell us about only forty of them? If one 
had chosen these forty days for his record, why did not an- 
other choose forty other days just as wonderful, and the 
third enrich our knowledge with the account of still new and 
equally marvelous material? It is a strange fact that they 
should choose for the most part to tell us about the same 
things. They all mention the fact that there were many 
other unrecorded miracles, and yet each of the synoptists 
tells about much the same list of miracles which is to be 
found in the others. When we turn from the synoptists 
to John we find a new list of miracles there, and we see at 
once that these new miracles were just as important as, or 
possibly in some cases even more important than, any to be 
found in the synoptists. The greatest of all the miracles, 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 275 

the raising of Lazarus from the dead, is found in the fourth 
Gospel alone. No one of our synoptists has mentioned it. 

The closing statement in the fourth Gospel is to the effect 
that there are also many other things which Jesus did, the 
which if they should be written every one, it might be sup- 
posed that even the world itself would not contain the books 
that should be written. 7 There was an abundance of mate- 
rial known to the eyewitnesses of the ministry of the Lord 
which is now lost forever. Why did not our synoptists do 
as the author of the fourth Gospel did and each of them give 
us an original and fresh putting of the life of Jesus, with 
fresh material chosen from this inexhaustible abundance of 
supply, instead of telling the same story over in much the 
same way ? 

We know so little of what Jesus did. We should like to 
know so much more. We know so little of what Jesus 
said. We would esteem every added word we could be 
assured fell from his lips as an invaluable treasure. Yet 
all the recorded sayings of Jesus could be spoken in six 
hours. What a meager measure of the words of life that 
is ! Six hours of golden speech and over all the rest of the 
life a pall of perfect silence! We have learned to content 
ourselves with what we have, and yet why did our synoptists 
choose to give us so much common material when each of 
them might have added much which would have been 
peculiar to him and thus have made us so much the richer in 
our possession of the facts concerning the life and the truths 
enunciated in the teachings of Jesus? 

The synoptists resemble each other, sometimes in absolute 
identity of expression, sometimes in peculiarities of lan- 
guage, sometimes in the method followed in an individual 
narration, and in general in the order of their chronicle and 
in the selection of their facts. What reason is there for 
these likenesses? The individuality of each of the evangel- 
ists has been overruled by some external fact to produce 

7 John 21. 25. 



276 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

these conformities to one model and these uniformities of 
result. 

III. Differences 

To get the Synoptic Problem clearly before us we also 
must look at the differences between them. It would be 
comparatively easy to account for their resemblances on the 
ground of the influence of an external and controlling 
norm, but the problem becomes more complicated when we 
take their differences into consideration. The question at 
once arises, If there were any such controlling norm as their 
resemblances would indicate, why has it not controlled more 
completely? What reason can be suggested for such di- 
vergences as we shall now consider? 

i. They differ in the transposition of sentences and para- 
graphs in the account both of incidents and of sayings in 
the life of Jesus. For example, Matthew gives the order of 
the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness as, first, the turn- 
ing of stones into bread; and, second, the casting of him- 
self down from the pinnacle of the temple; and, third, the 
worshiping of Satan for the kingdoms of the world. Luke 
gives us the same story of the temptation, but he puts the 
third of Matthew's list of temptations second and the second 
he puts last. There is no apparent reason for such a trans- 
position. If this narrative were intended to be taken as a 
literal narrative of facts, then of course both Matthew and 
Luke could not be correct in their order of the events. 8 

In Matthew's narrative Jesus prophesies that the men of 
Nineveh shall condemn the men of his generation and then 
goes on to say the same thing of the queen of the south. 
Luke repeats these sayings but reverses their order. 9 In 
the account of the Last Supper Mark and Matthew tell about 
the giving of the bread and then the giving of the cup to 
the disciples. Luke introduces a giving of the cup before 



"Matt. 4. 1-11; Luke 4. 1-13. 

6 Matt. 12. 41, 42; Luke 11. 31, 32. 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 277 

the breaking of the bread and connects with it some of the 
language assigned by the other synoptists to the cup given 
after the supper. 10 These seem to be strange and unex- 
pected and unaccountable divergences. Can any one give 
any sufficient and satisfactory explanation of them ? 

2. There are strange omissions in each of the synoptists. 
If they were following a common source, how are we to ac- 
count for them? We understand that Luke was a Gentile, 
and that he took every opportunity to emphasize any por- 
tion of the teaching of Jesus which made clear the fact that 
his gospel was a gospel for the Gentiles as well as for the 
Jews. If that be true, how does it happen that Mark tells 
us that Jesus taught the people in the temple, saying, "Is it 
not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for 
all the Gentiles," and Luke repeats the saying, "My house 
shall be a house of prayer," but omits the significant phrase 
"for all the Gentiles"? 11 We would have supposed that 
Luke would be sure to put that in, yet he omits it. 

In Mark we read, "The gospel must first be preached unto 
all the Gentiles," and in Matthew we read the same state- 
ment, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in 
the whole world for a testimony unto all the Gentiles." 
Then we turn to Luke and we find that he gives the same 
discourse of Jesus concerning the last things and Luke's 
account parallels that of Mark and Matthew at almost every 
point, and yet, strangely enough, when we come to this state- 
ment concerning the preaching of the gospel to all of the 
Gentiles we find that Luke omits it. 12 We would have 
thought that there was no saying in that discourse which 
Luke would have been so eager to record as that one. How 
can we explain such an omission? In Mark 7. 31 we are 
told that Jesus made a journey through the Gentile cities of 
Decapolis, and Mark gives some account of the things which 

10 Matt. 26. 26-29 ; Mark 14. 22-25 ; Luke 22. 17-19. 

"Mark. II. 17; Luke 19. 46. 

12 Mark 13. 10; Matt. 24. 14; Luke 21. 8-19. 



278 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

happened there. Luke omits all mention of this journey 
and of these things. How strange that is! He must have 
been interested in these happenings in a very special degree, 
since he was in all probability a Gentile. Why does he 
make no mention of them? 

Compare what Matthew calls the Sermon on the Mount 
with what Luke calls the Sermon on the Plain. They seem 
to be the same discourse. Yet Matthew says that Jesus 
went up into the mountain and sat down to preach that 
sermon, and Luke says that Jesus came down and stood 
on a level place while he talked. 13 In Matthew the sermon 
begins with eight beatitudes. In Luke there are but four, 
corresponding to Matthew's first, second, fourth, and 
eighth; and the first three of these seem to be so materially 
changed that we scarcely can recognize their spiritual char- 
acter. Then Luke adds four woes corresponding to his four 
beatitudes, which have no parallel in Matthew. What seems 
to be a single discourse in Matthew we find to be scattered 
in fragments throughout Luke's narrative from the sixth 
to the sixteenth chapters. Following the order of the dis- 
course in Matthew, we find the corresponding sayings in 
Luke first in the sixth chapter, then in the sixteenth, then 
in the twelfth, then in the sixth, then in the eleventh, then 
in the twelfth, then in the eleventh, then in the sixteenth, 
then in the twelfth, then in the sixth, then in the eleventh, 
then in the sixth, then in the thirteenth, then in the sixth, 
then in the thirteenth, then in the sixth again. Has Luke 
given us the proper setting for these several fragments of 
discourse, or did Jesus repeat himself and gather up into 
one discourse what he had said on several other occasions? 
Shall we trust Matthew alone, or Luke alone, or both ? 

3. A third difference is in the insertion of long narratives. 
The best example is to be found in what is usually called 
"the greater insertion" in Luke. In the middle of his nar- 



1S Matt. 5. 1 ; Luke 6. 17, 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 279 

rative Luke has given us a large section, the most of the 
material in which is peculiar to him. 14 The other Gospels 
pass these events over in silence, and yet some of them are 
among the most remarkable in our Lord's ministry. Alto- 
gether about three fifths of the contents of Luke are not to 
be found in the other Gospels. Stroud made a mathematical 
presentation of the facts in his familiar table. If the con- 
tents of the several Gospels be represented by 100, then 
Mark has 7 peculiarities and 93 coincidences. Matthew 
has 42 peculiarities and 58 coincidences. Luke has 59 pe- 
culiarities and 41 coincidences. 15 This table shows that in 
Mark there is very little which is not paralleled in the other 
Gospels, more than half of the contents of Matthew is 
repeated in the other synoptics, and more than two fifths 
of the contents of Luke. Nevertheless it remains true that 
in each of the Gospels there are insertions of narratives and 
discourses not to be found in the others. 

4. There are puzzling differences in the report of the 
same incident or the same saying. In the storm on the lake 
the disciples wake Jesus with a cry of terror. Mark reports 
it, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" Matthew says 
they said, "Save, Lord; we perish''; and Luke changes it 
again, "Master, master, we perish." 16 These are not im- 
portant differences. We note them simply as examples of 
the slight changes in the narratives found on every page. 
In the saying of Jesus, "It is easier for a camel to go 
through the eye of a needle," we find one word for "eye" 
in Mark and another in Matthew and Luke 17 : and we find 
one word for "needle" in Luke and another in Matthew 
and Mark. 18 In Matthew and Mark we read that Herod 
said to others, "This is John the Baptist: he is risen from 



14 Luke 9. 45 to 18. 30. 

15 Westcott, Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, p. 177. 

16 Mark 4. 38 ; Matt. 8. 25 ; Luke 8. 24. 

1T rpi^aXtas, Mark 10. 25; rp'/ifxaros Matt. 19. 24; Luke 18. 25, 

18 ptKbvT)*, Luke 18. 25 ; ^Wos, Matt. 19. 24 ; Mark 10. 2$, 



280 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

the dead." In Luke we read that others said this to 
Herod. 19 In the account of the crucifixion Mark says that 
one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar and put it on a 
reed, and gave it to Jesus to drink, saying, "Let be; let us 
see whether Elijah cometh to take him down." In Mat- 
thew we find the same account, but this speech, "Let be ; let 
us see whether Elijah cometh to save him," is put into the 
mouth of the bystanders. 20 Examples of such differences 
could be multiplied indefinitely. 

5. Sometimes statements are made by one of the synoptists 
which would lead us to mistaken conclusions if another of 
the synoptists did not set us right in the matter. For ex- 
ample, if we had only Matthew's account of the birth and 
infancy of Jesus we would suppose that Joseph and Mary 
went to Nazareth only after the return from Egypt and in 
consequence of a divine warning in a dream. However, 
from Luke we learn that Nazareth was the home city of 
the parents of Jesus, that they left it and went to Bethle- 
hem only for the census, and that after the presentation in 
the temple they returned to Nazareth. If we had Luke's 
account of the resurrection appearances of Jesus and no 
other, we would have supposed that all of these were in 
the neighborhood of Jerusalem ; but Matthew tells us plainly 
of an appearance in Galilee as well. 

6. The synoptists sometimes contradict each other. In 
Luke 3. 3 we read that John the Baptist came into all the 
region round about Jordan. In Matt. 3. 5 the statement is 
that all the region round about Jordan went out unto John. 
In Mark 6. 8, 9 Jesus expressly permits the twelve to carry 
a staff and to go shod with sandals. In Matt. 10. 10 Jesus 
expressly prohibits these things. It evidently is the same 
discourse, and it is seemingly impossible for both evangel- 
ists to be correct. Jesus either permitted or prohibited these 



18 Matt. 14. 2 ; Mark 6. 16 ; Luke 9. 7. 
"Mark 15. 36; Matt. 27. 49. 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 281 

things. He could not have done both at one and the same 
time. Mark tells us that Herodias desired to kill John but 
she could not because Herod feared him. Matthew says 
that Herod desired to kill John and did not, because he 
feared the multitude. 21 These statements are not neces- 
sarily contradictory, although they are apparently so. 

Matthew and Mark both say that the transfiguration took 
place six days after the events just recorded by them. 
Luke explicitly says that it took place eight days after these 
things. 22 Matthew says that Jesus commanded his disciples 
to pray after the manner which he records in his Sermon on 
the Mount. Luke records this prayer upon another occa- 
sion and not at all after that manner. He omits two of the 
petitions found in Matthew and changes two of the others. 
Matthew would have us pray after one manner, Luke would 
have us pray differently; and as a matter of fact, most of us 
repeat the prayer in a manner different from that prescribed 
by either of them. 23 

In Mark Jairus tells Jesus that his daughter is at the 
point of death. In Matthew Jairus says that she is already 
dead. 24 In Matt. 8. 5 we read that the centurion came to 
Jesus himself. In Luke 7. 3 we read that he sent unto Jesus 
some of the Jews. Matthew seems to put the profaning of 
the Sabbath by plucking ears of corn and eating them and 
by curing the man with the withered hand on the same 
Sabbath. Luke explicitly says that the miracle of the cure 
was performed on another Sabbath. 25 In Mark Peter's 
denial follows the trial before the Sanhedrin, while in Luke 
it precedes it. Mark says that the women came to the tomb 
when the Sabbath was past. Matthew says that they came 
late on the Sabbath. Luke says that they came on the first 



21 Mark 6. 19, 20 ; Matt. 14. 5. 

22 Matt 17. 1 ; Mark 9. 2; Luke 9. 28. 
"Matt. 6. 9-13; Luke 11. 2-4. 

24 Mark 5. 23 ; Matt. 9. 18. 
"Matt. 12. 1-14; Luke 6. 1-11. 



282 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

day of the week, at early dawn. 26 If Mark and Luke are 
right, Matthew must be wrong. 

Mark tells us that as Jesus went out from Jericho, the 
blind beggar, Bartimaeus, was healed. Matthew says that 
as they went out from Jericho two blind men were healed. 
Luke says that as Jesus drew nigh unto Jericho a certain 
blind man was healed, and from his account we conclude 
that it was the man whom Mark called Bartimaeus. 27 Why 
does Matthew say there were two blind men, while Mark 
and Luke mention only one? Why do Mark and Mat- 
thew locate the healing at the time of leaving Jericho, while 
Luke puts it at the time of entering the city? They can- 
not all be right. Some one has blundered. In the narrative 
of Mark we gather that Peter's second denial was in answer 
to a challenge made by the same young woman who had first 
identified him. In Matthew we are explicitly told that it 
was another young woman who made this second charge. 
In Luke we are surprised to read that this second accusation 
was made by a man. 28 

This list of apparent and real contradictions might be in- 
creased. However, none of the other cases are of any 
greater importance than these we have instanced; and all 
will agree that particulars like these are not essential to 
the conception of the life and work of Christ. The im- 
portant fact in the case of Bartimaeus, for instance, is the 
fact of the healing and not the exact spot on which it took 
place, and the important fact in the case of Peter is his 
denial and not the person or persons who occasioned it. 

We now have seen that the synoptists follow the same 
general order of narration, repeat each other in much or 
most of their material, sometimes follow the same strange 
method of telling their story, sometimes reproduce certain 
peculiarities of language, and sometimes are not merely 

28 Mark 16. 2; Matt. 28. 1; Luke 24. 1. 

27 Matt. 20. 29-34; Mark 10. 46-52; Luke 18. 35-43. 

88 Mark 14. 69; Matt. 26. 71, d^v, Luke 22. 58, trepos. 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 283 

parallel but absolutely identical in their expression. On 
the other hand, we have seen that they do not always fol- 
low the same order in their narratives, and each of them 
adds to the narratives of the others, and each of them omits 
portions of the narratives of the others, and each of them 
transposes the narratives of the others, and they give dif- 
ferent accounts of the same event or the same saying, and 
they apparently or really contradict each other at many 
points. How are we to explain these strange phenomena? 
That is the problem, and Professor Iverach says of it, "No 
more complex problem was ever set to literary criticism than 
that presented by the similarities and differences of the 
synoptic Gospels." 29 

IV. Responsibilities 

1. Let us say, first of all, that Jesus is not directly re- 
sponsible for the record found in our synoptics or for the 
form in which that record has been made. He never inter- 
ested himself in such things. He himself never wrote any- 
thing while he was upon the earth, as far as we know, except 
upon one occasion when he wrote with his finger in the dust 
upon the temple floor something or other of great moment 
to those who were looking on ; but we can only guess what it 
was, and we know that that writing was obliterated and 
lost long ago. Jesus never dictated anything to anyone for 
later publication, as far as we know, and we do not know 
that anyone ever thought of taking notes of any of his say- 
ings or doings while he was still with them. We read in 
one place that his disciples remembered that he had said cer- 
tain things only after his resurrection from the dead. Evi- 
dently, they had no written notes from which to refresh 
their memories of these things. 

We do not gather from our records that Jesus ever took 
any special pains to impress any particular phraseology 

^international Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, p. 1282. 



284 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

upon the minds of his followers. Possibly the formulation 
of the so-called Lord's Prayer might stand as a single ex- 
ample of that sort, and we have seen how in that case we 
have very different versions handed down to us. Then if 
Jesus neither dictated anything nor wrote anything nor 
taught anything with patient repetitions until he was sure 
that the disciples had it committed with verbal exactness 
which would insure absolute integrity in its preservation, 
it would seem that he was not convinced of the necessity 
of any such thing and was willing that the record of his life 
and words should be left to the chances of imperfect re- 
membrance and something less than infallible accuracy of 
preservation. At any rate, his evident negligence to provide 
any written memorials in his lifetime will clear him of all 
responsibility for our synoptic Gospels in the exact form in 
which we have them to-day. They were produced after 
his death. The responsibility for them must lie in other 
hands. 

2. Let us say, in the second place, that the Holy Spirit is 
not responsible for the exact form in which our synoptics 
appear. The doctrine of literal verbal inspiration surely 
must go to pieces in any candid mind before the parallel 
columns of Rushbrooke's Synopticon or Wright's Synopsis 
of the Gospels in Greek or Thompson's The Synoptic 
Gospels. The minute and meaningless variations in these 
parallel columns would convict any man of irreverence 
and irrationality, if he could be proved to be individ- 
ually responsible for them. The purposelessness and the 
frivolity of these almost numberless and wholly insig- 
nificant changes from one tense to another and from one 
mood to another and from one number to another and from 
one case to another would be just as apparent if the respon- 
sibility for them were thrown back upon the Holy Spirit. 
We find one order of words in one synoptist. We find an- 
other order of the same words in another synoptist. No 
possible reason can be assigned for the change in the order. 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 285 

The meaning is not changed; the emphasis is not changed. 
It seems to be a purely arbitrary choice on the part of each 
writer. That is an explanation of the change ; but if a single 
personality were made responsible for both forms, we 
would at once challenge the sense or the use of it. We 
have too much reverence for the Holy Spirit to say that he 
is responsible for these textual, verbal, literal changes. 

3. We conclude then, in the third place, that these phe- 
nomena both of resemblance and of divergence in the synop- 
tists must rest in the last analysis upon the responsibility and 
the personality of the individual authors or compilers. In 
the Royal Art Museum in Berlin there is a picture of Mat- 
thew writing his Gospel. He is represented as an old man 
with a flowing beard, seated at a desk upon which there is 
a roll. Behind him stands an angel who reaches over his 
shoulder and guides his pen. There is a look of intense sur- 
prise on Matthew's face, as he sees what his own hand, 
guided by the angel, has written. The picture represents a 
once common conception of inspiration ; the arbitrary, 
mechanical guidance of a pen rather than the inspiration of 
a man. God guides no man's pen as the mechanical in- 
strument of his will. He moves some man's heart, and the 
man, heart-stirred, moves his own pen with active brain 
and willing hand. God does not send messages through 
human telephones. His words are not repeated by human 
phonographs. His messengers are not impassive instru- 
ments but active, able, free-will agents, called and responsive 
to the call. 

Holy men of old were moved by the Holy Spirit, not as 
the primitive chaos was moved by that same Spirit, not 
arbitrarily but voluntarily. The evolution and the realiza- 
tion of God's designs in them was conditioned by their hu- 
man intelligence and by their human receptivity. God's 
inspiration always took on the stamp of the individuality 
of the human personality which appropriated it. God's 
messengers who dwelt among men have been men like other 



286 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

men. His greatest message was sent through his Son as a 
man. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, and Jesus were 
not abnormally appropriated to the proclamation of God's 
will. They were not moved in spite of themselves by the 
Holy Spirit, and they were not moved out of themselves. 
The Holy Spirit moved them, and in their own personalities 
they worked out the designs of God. Human individuality 
is apparent on every page of our New Testament, and no- 
where more so than in the pages of the synoptists. These 
men differed in mental equipment and literary style, and in 
personal prejudices and preferences, and in spiritual insight 
and in sources of information : and these differences appear 
in their books. 

Having concluded that the phenomena which constitute 
the Synoptic Problem must find their ultimate explanation 
in the individualities of the authors or compilers of the 
synoptic Gospels we are far from having disposed of our 
difficulties. The next question is, How does it happen that 
these individuals have composed or compiled Gospels in 
which these strange resemblances and differences exist ? 

V. Aids 

i. Luke's Preface. Matthew and Mark have told us 
nothing at all about the method of their procedure in writing 
their books. Luke, however, has written a preface to his 
narrative in which he makes some statements concerning 
the sources of information upon which he has drawn in its 
composition. He was not an eyewitness of the events in the 
Gospel history. He does not say that any special revelation 
had been given him concerning these things. He does not 
write at the direction of any heavenly voice or at the dicta- 
tion of any supernatural visitant. He does not assert that 
he had any direct or peculiar inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 
If Luke had been able to claim any extraordinary and ali- 
sufficing authority of that sort he surely would have men- 
tioned it. He is anxious to authenticate his narrative and 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 287 

to establish its trustworthiness, and he gives to Theophilus 
the best reasons he has for believing that he has written the 
certain truth. What does he say? 

He says that he writes of his own accord, and the only 
credential he presents is that of painstaking investigation of 
all the sources of information at his command. He certifies, 
however, that the result of this investigation is in his judg- 
ment a fuller, more accurate, and more orderly account of 
the life of Jesus than any of which he knew. He divides 
the chief sources of the facts he has written into documen- 
tary material and oral testimony. There had been many at- 
tempts at narrative of which in their manuscript form he 
was able to avail himself and upon which he felt he had 
been able to improve. There were also many eye-witnesses 
still living whom he was able to interview and who delivered 
to him their first-hand information concerning many things. 
Upon the basis of his documents and the careful recording 
of apostolic tradition as given to himself Luke assures 
Theophilus that he may rely upon the certainty of the things 
he here finds recorded. 30 This is all of the gratuitous in- 
formation furnished us in the synoptic Gospels concerning 
their composition. If we learn anything more, it must be 
by the study of their internal characteristics and peculiar- 
ities. 

2. Minute Research. An immense amount of work has 
been done in this field. As a single example we might cite 
the Seminar formed in the University of Oxford for the 
study of the Synoptic Problem. It met nine times a year 
for sixteen years. Then the results of the patient and united 
efforts of these scholars were published in the volume 
entitled Studies in the Synoptic Problem. Other volumes, 
like Sir J. C. Hawkins's Horse Synopticse, are marvels of 
minute research and represent a lifetime of labor. It would 
seem safe to say that every possible scrap of evidence has 



Luke 1. 1-4. 



288 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

been accumulated through the successive generations of un- 
grudging drudgery at the task. 

Possibly the minute pedantry of the ancient rabbis has 
been more nearly reproduced in the study of the Synoptic 
Problem than in any other part of our Scriptures. Those 
ancient scribes and masters of the law knew how many 
verses and how many words and how many letters there 
were in every book of their Bible. They knew how many 
times certain words occurred at the beginning of a verse and 
how many times at the end of a verse. They knew all the 
petty phenomena as well as the weightier matters in the law. 
The same thing has come to be true of the three synoptic 
Gospels. They have been subjected to microscopic investiga- 
tion. Every last detail has been considered in its bearing 
upon the solution of their relationship. 

We sometimes have thought that the erudition displayed 
in the study of the Synoptic Problem is like that of the 
Scholastics of the Dark Ages. Milman says of these, 
"Latin Christianity raised up those vast monuments of 
theology which amaze and appall the mind with the enor- 
mous accumulation of intellectual industry, ingenuity, and 
toil: but of which the sole result to posterity is this barren 
amazement." An amazing amount of scholarship has been 
expended upon the Synoptic Problem in the last two cen- 
turies, and he would be a very hopeful man who would 
think that the final word on the question was within sight 
or hearing to-day. Eminently learned and ingenious men 
have had their say about it. They have been eminently 
critical too. Their investigations have rivaled those of the 
Schoolmen in their painstaking minuteness. They have 
been thorough in their research. They have accumulated 
and assorted vast quantities of facts. Many of them have 
been very assured in the announcement of their results. 
They have held opposing and mutually destructive theories, 
and they have fought, bled, and died in their behalf. Each 
generation has quietly buried the combatants of the preced- 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 289 

ing generation and in many cases their theories have been 
quietly laid to rest with them. Probably some of these 
theories are dead beyond all hope of resurrection. 

We think that some things are pretty generally agreed 
upon in our day. Yet there are very strenuous advocates 
of rival hypotheses still in the field. No man who volun- 
teers to settle the whole question for us can command the 
universal suffrage of scholars. Frequently he represents no 
one but himself. Any new discovery of manuscripts may 
revolutionize the whole aspect of things at any time. Under 
such circumstances no one can prophesy with any degree 
of assurance what the verdict of the next generation or 
the next century will be. 

VI. Theories 

At present the Problem of the synoptic Gospels has re- 
solved itself into the problem of the sources from which the 
synoptists drew the material for their Gospels. Gloag says, 
"It is the most difficult problem in the criticism of the New 
Testament." 31 The two main sources are those suggested 
in the preface to the Gospel according to Luke, oral testi- 
mony and written documents : and the two most active dif- 
fering schools of thought on the subject to-day are, first, the 
one which pins its faith largely, if not wholly, upon the oral 
tradition as accounting for the resemblances and the differ- 
ences in the synoptic Gospels, and, second, the one which 
pins its faith largely, if not wholly, upon a single original 
document or a series of such as an adequate explanation 
for all the puzzling features which the synoptics present. 

1. Oral Tradition. Gieseler, Westcott, and Wright have 
been the protagonists for the Oral Tradition Theory. It is 
not always easy to assign the critics to one school rather 
than another, since each is apt to hold an attitude more or 
less mediating or more or less independent, but possibly 
Credner, Neudecker, Norton, Lachmann, Lange, Lumby, 

81 Gloag, Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels, p. 43. 



290 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Plumptre, Ebrard, Thiersch, Abbott, Alford, Renan, Farrar, 
Schaff, Thomson, Row, Wendt, Guericke, Godet, Gould, and 
Weiss might be classed together here. 

(i) Authoritative Teaching, These critics do not rule 
out the use of all documents, of course: but they maintain 
that before any documents came into existence the general 
form of the gospel narrative had become fixed in a cycle of 
authoritative oral teaching. The apostles were the chief 
authorities for the facts of the life of Jesus at first. They 
did not immediately set about the writing of books. They 
did begin their preaching at once, and in the beginning they 
confined themselves largely to the telling of the historical 
facts in the life of the Redeemer. As they went from place 
to place by dint of repetition the order of the narrative 
tended to become fixed, and even the form in which par- 
ticular incidents were repeated would gradually establish 
itself in the minds and on the tongues of both the hearers 
and the speakers. At the same time slightly different forms 
of reminiscence might go back to different apostles for their 
original authority. 

(2) Oriental Memory. In addition to this unquestioned 
fact that the preaching of the gospel must have preceded the 
writing of any Gospels, we are asked to remember that the 
Oriental memory was trained to a much higher degree than 
we are apt to conceive possible here in the West. It was 
the habit in the schools of the rabbis for the disciples to 
retain all of the teaching imparted to them without the aid 
of textbooks or notes. They were expected to attend 
closely, to remember fully, and to repeat accurately. The 
traditions were handed down from generation to generation 
in that way. It has also been suggested that there were 
catechetical schools among the Christians from the very 
first, and that systematic instruction was imparted to all con- 
verts in such schools. It is stated in Luke's preface that 
Theophilus had been instructed in this catechetical fashion. 32 

82 Luke I. 4, Karrixhfal*. 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 291 

Paul wrote to the Galatians, "Let the catechumen in respect 
to the word share with the one catechizing in all good 
things." 33 He wrote to Timothy to give double honor to 
those elders who toiled hard in the word and in teaching 34 
It was their duty to din the truth into the ears of their 
pupils. It was mechanical and disagreeable work ; but their 
incessant reiteration insured the perfect transmission of the 
tradition. There may have been an element of Rabbinical 
pedantry in it, but the gospel truths and facts were fixed in 
form and in memory in this fashion. If there were several 
such schools and a slightly different tradition were preserved 
and reproduced in each, that would go far to help toward the 
explanation of the Synoptic phenomena. 

(3) Fragments of Writing. Remembering that the 
preaching of the apostles was largely historical in the begin- 
ning and that they were the chief authorities for the account 
of the words and the works of the Lord, and remembering 
the Oriental retentiveness of memory which would tend to 
fix the form not only of the story as told but as repeated by 
others, we have the basis for a belief that a particular selec- 
tion of incidents and sayings and a particular form for their 
presentation would establish itself in Christian circles before 
any one would attempt to put any of these things into writ- 
ing. Such attempts surely would be made in time. In all 
probability some of the briefer sayings would be written 
first, then some collection of these sayings would be made, 
then some account of the miracles would be committed to 
writing, then the longer discourses, then the eschatological 
prophecies. These fragments would then be united by some 
hand or by several hands into the first attempts at a contin- 
uous sketch of the life of Jesus. The best of these would 
be used by our evangelists. 

The parallels in the Synoptics would thus be explained 
by the more or less fluid while yet more or less fixed form 

** Gal. 6. 6, KaTTjxotfievos ... tv Karrjxovvri. 
u I. Tim. 5. 17. 



292 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

of the primitive oral tradition, and the minute or more im- 
portant variations would be explained by the fact that the 
most credible witnesses will differ more or less in giving 
the account of the same matters, and the best-trained mem- 
ories will be imperfect at some points, while at the same 
time, having made due allowance for the differences in the 
oral or written sources of information open to each evan- 
gelist, we must still leave room for his personal preferences 
and tastes in the selection and the shaping of his material. 
It was the patent superiority of our Synoptic Gospels to all 
of their predecessors which insured their preservation and 
supremacy in the church while their models, or forerunners, 
perished. 

Stated generally, this seems like a very satisfactory theory 
of the composition of the Synoptic Gospels. It is only when 
we come to the application of it in detail that doubts arise 
in the minds of many scholars as to whether we can rely 
upon it as an adequate hypothesis. If it is to be trusted at 
all, why does it not go farther? If retentive memories ac- 
count for much, why do they not account for more? If 
oral tradition be supposed to fix some things, why did it not 
fix others? Stanton concludes, "The relations between the 
first three Gospels cannot be adequately explained simply 
by the influence of oral tradition," 35 and Moffatt affirms, 
"The Gospels are books made out of books ; none of them is 
a document which simply transcribes the oral teaching of an 
apostle or of apostles. Their agreements and differences 
cannot be explained except on the hypothesis of a more or 
less close literary relationship, and while oral tradition is a 
vera causa, it is only a subordinate factor in the evolution 
of our canonical Greek gospels." 36 The present generation 
of critics seems to be swinging away from any rigid adher- 
ence to the oral-tradition theory and to be concluding that 

86 Stanton, The Gospels as Historical Documents, ii, 17. 
"Moffatt, Introduction to the Literature of the New Testament, 
p. 180. 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 293 

the more hopeful line of research will be that of the recon- 
struction of original documents. Harnack is at present lead- 
ing the way in this direction. 

2. Documentary Sources. Lessing and Eichhorn made the 
first investigation into the Urkunden, or original documents 
lying back of our Synoptic Gospels. Eichhorn began by 
positing a single Urevangelium, or primitive Gospel, written 
in Aramaic about the time of the stoning of Stephen; but 
having embarked upon the high seas of adventure along 
this line he kept discovering new sources until the very pro- 
fusion and wantonness and arbitrariness of his inventions 
discredited the whole performance. He made a great sen- 
sation in his day, even more than Harnack has made in our 
day; but no one gives much heed to his conjectures now. 
Schleiermacher suggested the Logia, a collection of the say- 
ings of Jesus, and a series of more or less extensive compila- 
tions of narratives, leading up to a proto-Mark and then to 
our Synoptics. Weisse was content to presuppose the Logia 
with our canonical Mark as the basis of the other two Syn- 
optics. All of the Tubingen school were disposed to believe 
in a primitive Aramaic source of our Gospels, and they 
usually declared that our Matthew was a combination of a 
more liberal document with this source, and Luke was a 
Pauline protest supplemented from Ebionite sources, and 
Mark compiled his narrative from both of these. The gen- 
eral positions of the Tubingen school have been relegated to 
the theological scrap-heap by this time, and their contribu- 
tions to the discussion of the Synoptic problem carry as little 
weight as anything they said. 

We will put down in a single paragraph some sample 
conclusions of some modern authorities as to the sources of 
the Synoptic Gospels and the order of their composition. 
Holtzmann believes that there was 1. A proto-Mark, the 
original form of Mark's Gospel. 2. The Logia, a collection 
of the sayings of Jesus. 3. Our canonical Mark. 4. Mat- 
thew. 5. Luke. He thinks that the last two were founded 



294 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

upon the first and second, and used additional materials. 
Weiss posits the order as follows, i. The Logia. 2. An 
original Gospel according to Matthew, made up of the Logia 
and added incidents. 3. Mark, a recollection of Peter's 
preaching and as much of Matthew's discourses as would 
harmonize with his plans. 4. Our canonical Matthew, 
founded on Mark and the Logia. 5. Luke, founded on 
Mark, the Logia, and other sources. Zahn posits 1. Mat- 
thew in Hebrew. 2. Mark. 3. Luke. 4. Matthew in Greek. 
Julicher thinks that the earliest sources were our Mark and 
the Logia of Matthew, and that our Matthew and Luke use 
these two and also other sources. 

Harnack has carried his researches into the history of the 
early church back into the time of the composition of the 
Gospels, and he has chosen to use the term Quelle or its 
abbreviation Q instead of the old term Logia : and he thinks 
that Mark and Q are the two, and the only two, common 
sources for Matthew and Luke. He has undertaken to re- 
construct Q with genuine German thoroughness and the 
usual German subjective arbitrariness. James Hope Moul- 
ton and Benjamin Wisner Bacon and Willoughby C. Allen 
have shown good reasons why we should hesitate to accept 
without question his conclusions along this line. Well- 
hausen and Weiss have offered pertinent objections to 
Harnack's generalizations, and have gone into still more 
minute and even microscopic investigation of supposable 
sources. The dominant interest at present seems to lie in 
work along these lines. In our judgment the farther it is 
carried the less confidence it will command in both the 
expert and the lay mind. 

VII. Conclusions 

What may we conclude on the basis of the facts now pre- 
sented? 1. The Synoptic Problem is not much nearer a 
solution to-day than it has been at any previous time in the 
history of the church. We have more facts in hand than 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 295 

scholarship has been able to accumulate before this gen- 
eration ; but these facts only serve to increase the intricacies 
of the problem and they do not seem to insure any greater 
unanimity of conclusion on the part of the scholarly world. 
Without some added discoveries of documents in Egypt or 
elsewhere, a rather remote possibility, there is little or no 
reason to think that any sufficient solution of the Synoptic 
Problem is possible. In details the history of the composi- 
tion of our Synoptic Gospels will remain a mystery for all 
time to come. 

The facts which would be adequate to our need at this 
point are lost in the dim mazes of antiquity and in all prob- 
ability they are lost forever. Zahn is well within the truth 
when he says, "Up to the present time no one of the investi- 
gations of the Synoptic Problem can be said to have produced 
results which have been generally accepted, or that can lay 
well-grounded claims to such acceptance. In one point only 
is there agreement, namely, that it is impossible to set forth 
the history of the origin of the first three Gospels in a satis- 
factory manner on the basis of reliable reports and trust- 
worthy observations ; that, rather, gaps remain in our knowl- 
edge based upon these two classes of data, which must be 
filled up by conjecture." 37 

However, there are some general conclusions upon which 
a majority of the critics may now be said to agree. Henry 
Latimer Jackson in his survey of criticism in this field sums 
up his discussion rather hopefully. He says, "The present 
state of the Synoptic Problem has been described as chaotic. 
To a certain extent the description must be allowed ; where 
points of controversy are many and conflict of opinion is 
sharply illustrated, it might indeed seem that the utmost 
confusion reigns in what is spoken of as the fundamental 
problem of New Testament criticism, and consequently of 
Christian origins. There is nevertheless some warrant for 



" Zahn, Introduction to the New Testament, vol. ii, p. 418. 



296 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

stating the position in more hopeful terms ; if inexact knowl- 
edge of the situation finds much to suggest utter chaos, 
experts will allow that in spite of goings after side issues, 
modern scientific research has been steadily approximat- 
ing to an agreement in regard to main points. It is after 
all possible to report progress. 38 . . . The probability is 
that absolute certainty on every point will never be at- 
tained. But there are signs of an advance; the goal is 
in clearer view." 39 

2. The oral hypothesis has much truth in it. Oral nar- 
ratives came first in order, and they would have a tendency 
to take a fixed form. However, this hypothesis alone never 
can give more than general help in the consideration of 
the problem. It fails in adequacy whenever we try to apply 
it to the minute details of variations . in the Synoptics. In 
the Encyclopaedia Biblica Schmiedel brands it as an asylum 
ignorantice and an asylum orthodoxies , and his feeling is 
shared by most students of the subject to-day. The facts 
must be faced, and the facts point to written sources as well 
as an oral tradition. 

3. If we feel ourselves forced to assume that written docu- 
ments lie behind our canonical Gospels, and either that any 
of them borrowed from others or that they borrowed from 
any common sources, we still must face the facts. They 
seem to compel us to the conclusion that our Synoptists felt 
free to add to or omit from or transpose or otherwise 
change their sources as they thought best. If this seem to 
any one to be irreverent or impossible we simply appeal to 
the facts. The phenomena point to written sources. Yet 
the Synoptists give us different genealogies of Jesus, differ- 
ent forms for the so-called Lord's Prayer, different accounts 
of the institution of the Lord's supper, different forms of 
the inscription on the cross, and different reports of the 
same discourses. How far these differences are due to dif- 

88 Cambridge Biblical Essays, p. 454. 
39 Op. cit., p. 456. 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 297 

ferent documents or to individual preferences in dealing with 
the same document who will be able to decide for us ? 

4. The Gospel according to Mark probably is the oldest of 
the Synoptists. Allen calls this "the one solid result of 
literary criticism." Both Matthew and Luke may have made 
use of Mark in the composition of their Gospels. Alford, 
Plumptre, SchafT, and Westcott are convinced that neither 
Matthew nor Luke has done this. These are good author- 
ities, but present criticism has declared against them at this 
point. Patton says that "the one universally accepted result 
of modern study of the synoptic problem is the dependence 
of Matthew and Luke upon the Gospel of Mark." 40 If 
we grant this, let us suppose for a moment that our canon- 
ical Mark had not been preserved to our time and that 
nevertheless ninety-three per cent of its contents had been 
incorporated with our canonical Matthew and Luke and 
that modern critics had decided that Matthew and Luke 
must have had a common source from which they had drawn 
this common material and some of the more adventurous 
among them had undertaken to reconstruct Mark out of 
Matthew and Luke, what degree of success could we ex- 
pect to attend their efforts? They might attain to some gen- 
eral approximation to the appearance of our canonical Mark, 
but in multitudes of details their conjectures would differ 
with each other : and that any one of them would reproduce 
our Mark as it really is, with perfect exactness of chro- 
nology and phraseology, would be beyond the wildest reaches 
of possibility. Yet Harnack and others have attempted a 
somewhat similar task in the reconstruction of Q ; and what- 
ever conclusions they may publish to the world will be in- 
teresting and instructive and unsatisfactory. Q in its en- 
tirety will no more be attainable by any critic among us than 
Mark would have been under the suppositions we have 
suggested. 

Archdeacon Allen puts the patent truth of the case very 

40 Patton, Sources of the Synoptic Gospels, p. 3. 



298 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

pertinently when he says, "Consider what would happen 
upon this method of putting into the reconstruction of Mark 
all that was common to the other Synoptic Gospels. In the 
first place, the critics' Mark would be much larger than the 
real Mark. It would contain a large part, e. g., of the 
Sermon on the Mount. Secondly, it would not contain much 
that is in our Mark. The whole of Mark 6. 45 to 8. 26, 
e. g., would not be found in it. Thirdly, almost all the char- 
acteristics of the real Mark would be absent from it. The 
vivid and picturesque details, the emphasis upon the throng- 
ing crowd, the remarkable use of tenses, the rare words, the 
emphasis upon the human affections and gestures of the 
Lord, and upon the strife and ignorance of the Apostles — 
all these would not be entirely absent, but would be a negli- 
gible element in the Mark of the critics. ... I am 
sometimes inclined to think that the Q of the critics is due 
to the feeling that we must have some result of much in- 
vestigation even though it be obtained by precarious meth- 
ods. For there is much to make it probable that any attempt 
to recover a lost source used in the first and third Gospels is 
a profitless quest." 41 

5. There may have been an original collection of the Say- 
ings of Jesus, the so-called Logia, and it may have been 
extant both in an Aramaic form and in a Greek translation. 
Then if one or both of these versions were used by our Syn- 
optists the two versions would help to account for some of 
the verbal identities and some of the variations of trans- 
lation. The exact form and extent and content of this 
original Quelle or Source will be open to conjecture and 
never can be assured with our present sources of informa- 
tion. 

6. There may have been and there probably were many 
fragments of material used by our Synoptists, the exact 
number and nature of which no man can determine for us 
now. 



The Interpreter, vol. x, pp. 376, 377. 



THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 299 

7. Mark may have known and used the Logia or Q. 

8. Matthew probably did not know or use the Gospel 
written by Luke, and Luke probably did not know or use our 
canonical Matthew. 

9. In our Synoptic Gospels we have no literally iner- 
rant or infallible record either of the teachings or the doings 
of Jesus. They do give us a substantially accurate and 
sufficient account of these things. Their purpose was prac- 
tical rather than pedantic. It was religious rather than 
rigidly historical. They did not carefully copy texts. They 
were not particular about minute details. They intended to 
give, and they did give, a faithful and serviceable picture of 
the man Jesus, his words and his works. In all the great 
essentials of the narrative they agree. The personality they 
set forth is the same and is unmistakable in each of their 
books. They were not punctilious about little matters of 
time and place. They possibly had no ideal in their thought 
of verbal accuracy. They did have the Ideal Personality in 
mind and they sought to interpret that personality to their 
generation with all the aids they could summon, and their 
success was such that it drove all competitors from the field 
and it has satisfied the religious needs of the world from 
their day to our own. 

We have a fourth Gospel, and we are thankful that it is 
so different from the Synoptists that it may be considered a 
wholly independent attempt at the portraiture of the Per- 
sonality of Jesus, and it suggests how inexhaustible that 
personality was and what different impressions it must have 
made on different men. We are thankful for all the differ- 
ences there are in the Synoptists, as bearing testimony to 
this same multiform impressiveness. We are thankful to 
believe that the substantial historicity of the Synoptic nar- 
ratives has been established by all recent research and that 
it has approved itself through all the Christian centuries. 



PART V 
THE BOOK OF ACTS 



PART V 
THE BOOK OF ACTS 

I. Name of the Book 

i. The Acts of Peter and Paul. The fifth book of the 
New Testament is entitled The Acts of the Apostles in the 
Vaticanus and most of the uncial manuscripts, and the book 
is cited by this name in Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of 
Alexandria, the Muratorian Fragment, and many ancient 
authorities; but in quotations by Origen, the most learned 
of the church Fathers, and in the superscription of the Si- 
naiticus, we find the abridged title, The Acts. This is a better 
title, for Luke's second volume does not appear upon exam- 
ination to be a history of the twelve apostles. They are 
mentioned and enumerated in the first chapter, 1 but the 
after history wholly ignores most of them, and only meager 
mention is made of any of them, except Peter, James, and 
John. 

We have the account of James's martyrdom, 2 and John 
is mentioned on two occasions as the companion of Peter, 3 
but he still occupies the silent and subordinate position 
which the Gospels had given him. More prominence in the 
narrative is given to Stephen the martyr and Philip the 
evangelist, both of them deacons in the Jerusalem church, 
and to Barnabas and Silas and Paul, all of them mission- 
aries beyond the borders of Palestine, than to any member 
of the apostolic company, except Peter, the organizer, 
originator, spokesman, and head. Peter is the hero of 

1 Acts i. 13, 26. 

2 Acts 12. 2. 

8 Acts 3. 1-12; 8. 14. 

303 



304 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

the former half of the history, as Paul is the hero of the 
latter half, and the book might be named with more ac- 
curacy The Acts of Peter and Paul. From this point of 
view there are two clearly distinguishable sections of the 
book. The Doings of Peter are recorded in the first twelve 
chapters, and The Missions and Sufferings of Paul are 
narrated in the remaining chapters of the history. The 
whole history of the church is shown to revolve about these 
two men. As in the Apocalypse John had the vision of the 
two prophets and witnesses who were the two olive trees and 
the two candlesticks, standing before the Lord of the earth, 4 
so in the Book of the Acts of Peter and Paul we are shown 
how the Christian Church was founded by these two apostles 
who furnished the inspiration and the illumination of leader- 
ship necessary to make it a power among men. These were 
the two anointed ones chosen in the beginning to stand for 
the Lord before the whole earth. 5 

2. The Acts of the Ascended Lord. This is the second 
volume of Luke's Church History. In the first volume, 
The Gospel according to Luke, he tells us that he had nar- 
rated "all that Jesus began both to do and to teach." 6 In 
this second volume he narrates all that Jesus continues both 
to do and to teach. The ascended Christ is not separated 
either in sympathy or presence from his church. He is at 
hand in all the crises of its history. He is active continu- 
ously in the midst of it. From the Father's presence he 
sends forth the Pentecostal baptism which is the church's 
needed enduement of power. 7 When the lame man was 
walking and leaping and praising God there at the Beautiful 
Gate of the temple, Peter declared to the multitude that this 
first miracle after Pentecost was wrought in the name 
and by the power of the still living and ascended Lord. 8 
Stephen saw him standing at the Father's right hand, ready 

4 Rev. ii. 3, 4. 7 Acts 2. 32, 33. 

6 Zech. 4. 14. 8 Acts 3. 16. 

"Acts 1. 1. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 305 

to welcome the first martyr home. 9 On the road to Damas- 
cus he appeared to Saul and in personal conversation he 
called the "chosen vessel" to his unique career. 10 He talked 
with Peter on the housetop at Joppa and prepared him for 
the reception of the first Gentile convert into the no longer 
exclusively Jewish but now universal church. 11 

It was the Lord from heaven who opened Lydia's heart 
to give heed to the things which were spoken by Paul. 12 
When troubles were multiplied in Corinth and there was so 
much to discourage and alarm, the Lord spoke to Paul in a 
night vision and said to him, "Be not afraid . . . ; for 
I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm 
thee." 13 The ascended Lord always is present with his 
own, and he gives them divine guidance and blessing in 
every time of special need. 14 It was he who sent Paul and 
his helpers westward into the newer' continent and along 
the zone of power. All their spiritual life and strength were 
derived from their living Lord. All the miracle-working 
power these early Christians possessed was from him, gra- 
ciously given or at times sovereignly withheld. 15 He was 
the center and soul of all their teaching and preaching, the 
omnipotent Source of all their success in evangelism. 16 
The unseen presence and power of the ascended Lord was 
the secret, the all-sufficient explanation, of the church's 
marvelous growth from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of 
the earth. The deeds of the Lord recorded in the Gospels 
were only a beginning of his work in and for his church. 
Luke's second volume gives the continuation of these deeds, 



•Acts 7. 55, 56. 

10 Acts 9. 3-6. 

"Acts 10. 13-16. 

"Acts 16. 14. 

"Acts 18. 9. 

"Acts 16. 6, 7, 10. 

"Acts 3. 6, 16; 9. 34. 

" Acts 2. 32-36 ; 5. 42 ; 8. 5 ; 10. 36-43 ; 16. 31 ; 26. 22, 23. 



306 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

and it might be named The Acts of the Glorified Jesus, or 
The Acts of the Ascended Lord. 

It was Christmas Evans who said, "Most reformations 
die with their reformers; but this Reformer ever lives to 
carry on his reformation." That is one chief lesson of the 
book of Acts. Those first apostles and evangelists were 
worshiping no dead Jew. They worshiped and preached 
a living Lord. They believed that he was active in the midst 
of his people still. The stress of their gospel proclamation 
always fell upon the resurrection. It was their faith in the 
resurrected and ascended Lord which gave them hope and 
insured them victory. If their leader had been dead, their 
cause would have been lost. He was alive, and he was 
with them for evermore. 

3. The Acts of the Holy Spirit. No writer in the New 
Testament emphasizes the personality of the Holy Spirit as 
Luke does. In the Gospels, when Matthew says, "If ye 
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your 
children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven 
give good things to them who ask him," 17 Luke prefers to 
summarize all other good gifts in the greatest gift of God 
to man, and he says, "Your heavenly Father" will "give 
the Holy Spirit to those who ask him." 18 The Holy Spirit 
is the best of all "good things" in Luke's estimation; and 
his second" volume is a prolonged proof of the justification 
of this standpoint. We never would have known about the 
baptism at Pentecost, if Luke had not written this history; 
for no other book in the New Testament makes mention 
of it. That baptism with the Spirit marked the beginning 
of the new dispensation, a dispensation which has had no 
end as yet. The history of the Christian Church began there 
at Pentecost, for the Christian Church is the church filled 
with the Spirit of God. Peter preached to those who were 
under conviction that day that remission of sins and the 

"Matt. 7. 11. 
18 Luke 11. 13. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 307 

reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit were the two things 
necessary to admission into the Christian fellowship, which 
was to be a holy fellowship in the common possession of 
the Spirit of God. 19 

This mighty personality, the Holy Spirit, made so 
prominent in the beginning of the book, continues to be the 
efficient and sufficient Comforter, Illuminator, and Enduer 
with power to the very close. The church claimed that he 
presided in their councils and their conclusions were pub- 
lished in his name. They said, "It seemed good to the Holy 
Spirit, and to us." 20 It was the Holy Spirit who said, 
"Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto 
I have called them," 21 and they went out to their mission- 
ary career, "being sent forth by the Holy Spirit." 22 Paul 
said to the elders of Ephesus, "Take heed unto yourselves, 
and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you 
bishops." 23 It was by the authority of the Holy Spirit 
that the affairs of the church were administered. It was he 
who chose their ministers and guided them into the truth. 

Stephen was a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, 
and the disputers could not withstand the wisdom and the 
Spirit by which he spake. 24 The Lord sent Ananias to 
Saul that he might receive his sight and that he might be 
filled with the Holy Spirit. 25 Barnabas was a^good man, 
full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and that made him a 
most successful evangelist. 26 The Holy Spirit fell upon the 
twelve at Ephesus and they spake with tongues and proph- 
esied even as the one hundred and twenty had at Pente- 
cost. 27 We read that the church throughout all Judaea and 
Galilee and Samaria had peace, and, walking in the fear 
of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it was 

"Acts 2. 38. "Acts 6. 5, 10. 

"Acts 15. 28. "Acts 9. 17. 

21 Acts 13. 2. "Acts 11. 24. 

12 Acts 13. 4. "Acts 19. 6. 
"Acts 20. 28. 



308 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

multiplied. 28 Peter told Cornelius how God had anointed 
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, 29 
and this book makes it clear that all the disciples of Jesus 
were expected to be like their Master at this point. They 
were to be men of good report, full of the Spirit and of 
wisdom. 30 

Each of the three great forward movements in the history 
of the church in this book is marked by a notable outpour- 
ing of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost they were all filled 
with the Holy Spirit. 31 In Samaria Peter and John laid 
their hands upon the converts and they received the Holy 
Spirit. 32 At Caesarea Peter preached to Cornelius and his 
household, and the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard 
the word. 33 The disciples had been commanded to preach to 
Jews and Samaritans and Gentiles, and as they obeyed the 
command the Holy Spirit gave them the sanction of his out- 
pouring of power. No book in the Bible mentions the Holy 
Spirit as often as this book. There are fifty-seven direct 
references to his manifest presence; and if we include allu- 
sions, he is mentioned some seventy-one times. The book 
could well be named The Acts of the Holy Spirit. 

4. The Acts of the Missionary Church. This book has been 
the missionary manual of the Christian centuries. Its motto 
is found in the eighth verse of the first chapter, "Ye shall 
receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: 
and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all 
Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the 
earth." The narrative enlarges upon this theme. In chap- 
ters 1 to 8 the church is established in Jerusalem. In 
chapters 8 and 9 the gospel is preached in Judaea and 
Samaria. In chapters 10 to 28 the message is carried to the 
ends of the earth. The founding of the local church, home 
missions and foreign missions follow in rapid and legitimate 

28 Acts 9. 31. ^Acts 2. 4. 

29 Acts 10. 38. 82 Acts 8. 17. 
80 Acts 6. 3. 83 Acts 10. 44. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 309 

succession. The three successive centers of this activity, 
marking the beginning, middle, and consummation of it, are 
Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome. 

It is interesting to note that the order of the synoptic 
Gospels in our Bibles and the course of events in this book 
parallel each other. First, we have the Gospel according to 
Matthew, which is the Gospel for the Jews; and then the 
Gospel according to Mark, which is the Gospel for the 
Romans; and then the Gospel according to Luke, which is 
the Gospel for the Greeks. So in the book of Acts we find 
that the gospel is preached first in Jerusalem and Judaea to 
the Jews, and then at Caesarea to Cornelius the Roman cen- 
turion, and then through Asia Minor and Macedonia and 
Achaia to the Greeks. We learn how Jews and Romans and 
Greeks were won to the faith, and the success of the early 
evangelists has been a stimulus to the church ever since. The 
book of Acts has furnished more inspiration to missionary 
effort at home and abroad than any other volume in the liter- 
ature of the faith. It has shown what can be accomplished 
and also the best methods of accomplishment. Zockler has 
well said, "We have to thank the book of Acts that the mis- 
sionary methods and results of these disciples, especially of 
Peter and Paul, are known to us more fully and exactly than 
the history of all the next-following heroes of the Christian 
missionary movement till we come to Columba and Gallus, 
Wilfrid and Willibrod." 34 The book which gives us this 
information and this inspiration might be called The Acts 
of the Missionary Church. The first half of the book has 
to do with the church at Jerusalem, the church of the twelve 
apostles, the church of the circumcision. The second half 
of the book has to do with the church of the empire, the 
church of the uncircumcision. Both were missionary 
churches. The active and aggressive church always is a 
missionary church. 

5. The Acts of the Methodist Church. Luke introduces 

84 Strack-Zockler Kommentar, S. 14& 



310 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

a very peculiar term for the Christian faith in this narrative. 
He calls it V bdog, The Way. 35 That name had the sug- 
gestion of ceaseless motion in it. The Christianity of the 
beginning history of the church never was at rest. It was 
on the road, on The Way to wider influence and to better 
things. On foot, on horseback, on camel-back, on shipboard, 
it always was on the go. It was persistently itinerant, al- 
ways pressing forward to some farther goal. Then the 
Christians had a Way of doing things which was an entirely 
new way to the world of that day. It was a new Way of 
thought, a new Way of speech, a new Way of life. The 
Christians were called "those who belong to The Way." 
Christianity did not seem to the unbelievers to be a creed, 
a philosophy, a society, a nationality, so much as it was a 
Way of thinking, speaking, acting. A Christian was known 
by the Way he had of looking at life, its duties and responsi- 
bilities. His methods won the right of way through the 
heathen world. This new power in the world, a Methodist 
Church, won adherents everywhere. The book which 
records its triumphs might be named The Acts of the Meth- 
odist Church. 

It is well known that the name "Methodist" was first a 
nickname, applied in derision to the members of the Holy 
Club there at Oxford "because they observed a more regu- 
lar method of study and behavior than was usual with those 
of their age and station." John Wesley did not appreciate 
the name very highly in the beginning. He wished that it 
"might never be mentioned more, but be buried in eternal 
oblivion." Contrary to his desire, the name survived and 
became the general and popular designation for the members 
of his societies; and in 1752 John Wesley published a dic- 
tionary in which this definition appeared, "A Methodist is 
one who lives according to the method laid down in the 
Bible." That was true of the early Christians. They lived 
according to the method laid down in the Bible of their 

80 Acts 9. 2; 18. 25; 19. 9, 23; 22. 4; 24. 14, 22. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 311 

day, and according to the commandment of the Lord and 
his apostles. This way or method came to characterize 
them, and they were called the "methodists," "those who 
belong to the method or way." Their acts then are the 
acts of the Methodist Church. The name would seem to be 
applied to them just as properly as it ever was to the fol- 
lowers of John Wesley. In his Journal for January 5, 1761, 
John Wesley wrote, "We aver that Methodism is the one 
old religion; as old as the Reformation, as old as Christian- 
ity, as old as Moses, as old as Adam." He at least would 
have claimed kinship with those who were "of the Way" in 
the book of Acts. 

II. Importance of the Book 

1. As a Church History. This book is invaluable because 
it gives us our only trustworthy account of the origin of 
Christianity as an organized world-force. Philip Schaff 
has said: "Examine and compare the secular historians 
from Herodotus to Macaulay, and the church historians 
from Eusebius to Neander, and Luke need not fear a com- 
parison. No history of thirty years has ever been written 
so truthful and impartial, so important and interesting, so 
healthy in tone and hopeful in spirit, so aggressive and yet 
so genial, so cheering and inspiring, so replete with lessons 
of wisdom and encouragement for work in spreading the 
gospel of truth and peace, and yet withal so simple and 
modest, as the Acts of the Apostles. It is the best as well as 
the first manual of church history." 36 No other book ever 
could take its place. If the curtain had been drawn upon 
the crucifixion of Jesus and lifted again only after the death 
of Paul, we never could have understood how the Chris- 
tian faith had burst its Jewish bonds and taken its flight 
over all the Mediterranean lands and established itself as 
the inevitable conqueror of all the modern world. Nothing 

38 Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. i, p. 739. 



312 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

seemed more unlikely at the close of the Gospel history. 
Even as we look back upon the accomplished reality it seems 
little short of miraculous in our eyes. In the book of Acts 
Luke has given us the secret of this mystery in a plain and 
clear narration of the simple and marvelous history. 

Dean Farrar suggests that "the preciousness of a book 
may sometimes best be estimated if we consider the loss 
which we should experience if we did not possess it. If so, 
we can hardly value too highly the Acts of the Apostles. 
Had it not come down to us, there would have been a blank 
in our knowledge which scarcely anything could have filled 
up. The origin of Christianity would have been an insoluble 
enigma. We should have possessed no materials out of 
which it could be constructed, except, on the one hand, a 
few scattered remnants of ecclesiastical tradition, and on 
the other hand shameless misrepresentations, like the 
pseudo-Clementine forgeries." 37 Therefore, he concludes, 
"We have in the Acts a picture of the origins of Chris- 
tianity drawn by one who was himself a leading actor in the 
early evangelization of the world. Quiet, retiring, unob- 
trusive, the beloved physician has yet so used for us his 
sacred gifts of calm observation, of clear expression, of 
large-hearted catholicity, of intelligent research, that he has 
won for himself a conspicuous place among the benefactors 
of mankind." 38 

As the first church history and as the only history of the 
early church which can make any claim to be authentic, this 
book is invaluable to the student of church organization 
and discipline. It is the book of Genesis in the New Testa- 
ment church. In it we have the beginnings of things. It 
gives us the account of the first apostolic sermon and of 
the first apostolic miracle. We find in it the beginnings of 
ecclesiastical organization. We read here of the first perse- 
cution and the first martyr and the first Gentile convert. 

37 Farrar, Messages of the Books, p. 121, 
88 Op. cit., p. 122. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 313 

We have the narrative of the proceedings at the first synod. 
Then we follow with breathless interest the thrilling ad- 
ventures of the first missionary journeys, and we come upon 
the founding of the first European church. The Book of 
Beginnings in the Old Testament told us about the begin- 
nings of the world and of the race and of sin in the race. 
It recorded the first promise of redemption and the begin- 
ning of the chosen race. Luke writes "the beginning of the 
end." He tells us of the fulfillment of the promise of re- 
demption in the incarnation, the resurrection, and the ascen- 
sion of the Lord. Then he records the beginnings of the 
Christian Church and of the final dispensation of the Holy 
Spirit in the regeneration and the education of men. 

2. As a Help to Faith. This book is invaluable again in 
showing what a Christ-honoring and a Spirit-filled church 
can accomplish in the face of fearful odds. It has been 
said that there are five great powers which always have 
moved and governed human society — eloquence, learning, 
wealth, rank, arms. In the beginning the church had none 
of these. On the contrary, all of these were arrayed against 
it. The eloquence of the orators and the learning of the 
schools *and the wealth of the world and the higher ranks 
of society and the armies of all the nations were its foes. 
The missionary evangelists of this book never base their 
hope of success upon their eloquence or their learning or 
their wealth or their nobility of birth, and the only weapon 
they have is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, 
the Gospel of Christ. Yet with this they go forth to an im- 
mediate conquest of the nations for their Lord. In chapters 
ten and eleven Peter opens the way into the Gentile world, 
and then, with the swing of assured and continuous victory, 
the Church moves out from Jerusalem into all Judaea, and 
into Samaria, and on into Asia Minor and Europe, and on 
to the ends of the earth. We read that the disciples were 
called Christians first in Antioch. 39 That name had in it 

'"Acts 11. ?6. 



314 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

the suggestion of a cosmopolitan destination. It embodied 
a Hebrew conception in a Greek word with a Latin termi- 
nation. The book of Acts begins with the Hebrew church, 
and records its planting in the Greek world, and terminates 
in the Latin capital, Rome. It shows how the Christian 
Church was true to its name and became the church of all 
the lands. 

Notice the progress of the Kingdom in this book, with 
three thousand at Pentecost and five thousand a little later, 
followed by propagandism in Samaria and Damascus and 
Antioch, and then by the systematic evangelization of all the 
regions beyond. In an incredibly short time the church is 
established in Lystra and Iconium and Ephesus and Philippi 
and Thessalonica and Corinth and Rome. It was no easy 
task which the church undertook. Those first evangelists 
had to turn the world upside down, and that is not an easy 
thing to do while you are living in it and on it. They had 
to face the prejudices and the bigotries of the centuries. 
They had to overthrow the barbarisms and the supersti- 
tions of the nations. Their message brought them into 
direct conflict with the idolatries of all the lands and with 
the licentiousness rampant in all the Orient. It was no easy 
thing to win the victory against such foes. 

Often too there were as many discouragements within as 
without. There were excitement and excess among new 
converts. There were fanaticism and folly inside the fold. 
There were dissensions and divisions and defections. There 
were misconceptions and misrepresentations. There were 
false doctrines and false teachers. Some made mistakes 
and some fell into sin. Yet everywhere the gospel made its 
way and proved itself the power of God unto salvation to 
those who believed, whether it was the cripple begging for 
alms or the proconsul astonished at the teaching of the Lord, 
the Jews who had crucified the Christ, the Samaritans who 
had been amazed at the sorceries of Simon, the barbarians 
of the highlands of Asia, the philosophers of the Areopagus 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 315 

court, the soldiers and centurions of the Roman legions, the 
servants of Caesar's household, the slaves everywhere, jail- 
ers, merchants, high officials, Jewish priests, women of high 
and low degree ; all were caught in the rising tide of evan- 
gelism and swept as by an irresistible current into the king- 
dom and church of the resurrected Lord. Philip, Barnabas, 
Silas, Timothy, Luke, and Paul — here is a list of world- 
conquerors to match with Cyrus, Alexander, Caesar, and 
Napoleon. They conquer without armies and bloodshed, by 
the presence of the Spirit and the power of the truth. This 
book is invaluable because it gives the history of their move- 
ments and methods and shows us the secrets of their suc- 
cess. The church of to-day has no greater difficulties with 
which to contend and it ought to find in this book the in- 
spiration for its immediate conquest of the world. 

3. As a Manual of Revivals. This book is the best manual 
on revivals ever written. All the factors necessary for the 
world's evangelization are presented here. The Lord living 
and active in behalf of his own, the Omniscient and Omni- 
potent Spirit leading and illuminating all who are obedient 
to him, disciples testifying to that which they themselves 
have felt and known, conviction, enthusiasm, faith, and 
love — these won their way through the ancient world, and 
these alone will win the modern world to the Christian 
standard of life. The book of Acts has all the abiding 
secrets of success in revival work: prayer, plain gospel 
preaching, the faithful presentation of the fundamentals of 
the faith, directness of aim, persistence of effort, the bap- 
tism of the Holy Spirit. When Henry Ward Beecher 
first went into the wilderness of Indiana to preach he found 
that he could not get any of his hearers either convicted 
or converted. At last he decided to study the book of 
Acts to see if he could learn from it the secrets of apostolic 
success, and by practicing the principles he found there 
he brought hundreds into the Kingdom. He was a fa- 
mous evangelist in those beginning days, and he said: "I 



316 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

owe more to the book of Acts than to all other books 
put together. I said to myself, 'There was a reason why, 
when the apostles preached, they succeeded, and I will 
find it out if it is to be found out.' I took every in- 
stance in the record where I could find one of their ser- 
mons and analyzed it, and asked myself, 'What were the 
circumstances? Who were the people? What did he 
do?' I studied the sermons till I got the idea. 'Now/ I 
said, 'I will make a sermon so/ I remember it just as well 
as if it were yesterday. There were seventeen men awak- 
ened under that sermon. I never felt so triumphant in my 
life. I cried all the way home. I said to myself, 'Now I 
know how to preach/ " 

There are ten great sermons in this book, and they are 
all worthy of careful study. Five are by Peter, one by 
Stephen, and four by Paul, and they show clearly all th& 
essentials of apostolic preaching. They all have one theme, 
variously presented, but with unfailing results. In one of 
Dwight L. Moody's last addresses he said: "In my forty 
years of observation I have concluded that the nearer we get 
to the apostolic spirit and methods the more power we will 
have in our preaching. . . . These apostles and preachers 
were just witnesses. Twenty-three times in this book we 
find that word 'witness/ A witness just tells what he 
knows. A witness does not need to be eloquent. Let him 
try his powers of oratory on the judge, and the judge will 
set him down quick. 'We pay the lawyers to do that/ he 
will say. 'You just tell us what you know/ They witnessed 
to the Lord's resurrection twenty-nine times in the record 
of this book, and they witnessed to their own salvation ; and 
the Holy Spirit honored their testimony in the conversion of 
other souls." The examples of conversion in this book are 
all notable and worthy of careful examination. Note the 
three thousand at Pentecost, 40 the Samaritans, 41 the Ethi- 

40 Acts 2. 36-47. 

41 Acts 8. 1?. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 317 

opian eunuch, 42 Saul, 43 Cornelius and his household, 44 
Lydia, 45 The Philippian jailer, 48 and Crispus and the Cor- 
inthians. 47 

4. As a Biography of Paul. Next to the one great bio- 
graphy of the Gospels, the biographies of this book are most 
cherished in the memories and hearts of the Christian world ; 
and chief among these is the biography of Paul. His life is 
one of the great epics of biography, an Iliad and Odyssey 
combined, a life of constant wandering, constant conflict, and 
constant victory. There is no Anabasis in it from be- 
ginning to end, no retreat; but wherever the Greek tongue 
was spoken and there were souls to be reached and helped 
and saved, over the rivers, the continents, the seas, Paul 
went to labor and preach. He was an ambassador from 
heaven. The love of Christ was as a fire within his bones, 
constraining him to push on and on and ever on in his flam- 
ing evangelism. He was the advocate of Christianity before 
the bar of the world. Before the Jewish Sanhedrin, on the 
Athenian Areopagus, in the imperial courtroom at Rome, he 
was equally at home. Born a Jew in a Greek city as a 
Roman citizen, the world was his parish and its conversion 
his one aim in life. He preached by day and he labored by 
night. He founded churches here and there and every- 
where. He laid broad and deep the foundations of a Chris- 
tian empire which was destined to reach beyond the bounds 
of the empire of Rome. 

He was a seer of visions and an organizer of churches, an 
idealist and a realist combined, a most strange and unusual 
combination. He was Christianity's greatest theologian 
and the world's greatest missionary. He gave a system- 
atic theology to the infant church ; and he gave an organized 
and established church to the Graeco-Roman world. With 
a genius unsurpassed in his time and with an endurance 

"Acts 8. 27-40. "Acts 16. 14-16. 

48 Acts 9. 1-19. "Acts 16. 25-34. 

"Acts 10. 1-48. "Acts 18. 8. 



318 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

unparalleled by any missionary or itinerant, his lifework is 
the marvel of church history, his life achievement stands 
preeminent, like Mount Shasta towering above the plain, 
unapproached in his grandeur and alone on his throne. We 
cannot be too thankful to Luke that he has devoted more 
than half his book to the biography of this man. 

III. Noticeable Features of the Book 

i. Omissions. The book of the Acts covers a period of 
approximately thirty years, but it does not pretend to be a 
complete church history for this time. It necessarily is of a 
somewhat fragmentary character. The author has made a 
selection of incidents out of a multitude which he doubtless 
had at hand. John declares that there were many other 
things which Jesus did, but which John left unrecorded in 
his Gospel, "the which if they should be written every one, 
I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the 
books that should be written." 48 Luke must have been 
embarrassed with a corresponding richness of material both 
in the lives and the sayings of his heroes. Yet some of his 
omissions are most remarkable. 

(i) We have noticed that 'The Acts of the Apostles" 
almost wholly ignores the missionary labors and successes 
of the apostolic twelve. We know that they and the 
brethren of the Lord went on missionary journeys, ac- 
companied by their sisters or wives. 49 Tradition tells us 
that Thomas preached the gospel in India, that Peter 
founded the church in Rome, and that all the apostles were 
active in the gospel propaganda of the first century; but 
Luke is silent upon this theme. Apocryphal Acts of 
Thomas, of John, of Andrew, and others were early cur- 
rent in the church, evidently composed with the intention of 
making good this strange omission on the part of the evan- 
gelist; but their absurd fabrications make us regret all the 

48 John 21. 25. 
49 1 Cor. 9. 5. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 319 

more that Luke has not chosen to give us authentic in- 
formation concerning these things. We would like to know 
something about the origin of the New Testament liter- 
ature. Luke ignores all the literary activity of the early 
church. If he had told us, for instance, whether Matthew 
wrote all of our first Gospel or only the sayings of Jesus to 
be found in it, how much of the discussion and the investiga- 
tion of these later years might have been avoided ! 

(2) Mary the mother of Jesus is mentioned in the first 
chapter of this book, but Luke leaves her there on her knees 
in prayer with the disciples. 50 He gives us no further in- 
formation concerning her. He knew more, but he has not 
recorded it. All the Mariolatry of the after ages might have 
been forestalled if he had told us all he knew. How long 
did she live? Where did she live? Where and when and 
how did she die? We wish we knew. Luke knew, but he 
does not tell us. 

(3) Luke leaves the biography of Peter unfinished. When 
did Peter leave Jerusalem? Where did he go, to Rome or 
to Babylon, to the West or to the East? When and where 
was he martyred ? Luke must have known these things. He 
has chosen not to record them in this book. 

(4) Luke devotes so large a portion of this book to the 
history of Paul and his missionary companions, and yet 
among them he tells us nothing of Titus, who was one of 
the most faithful and serviceable of them all. We learn 
from other sources that this companion of Paul was a man 
of resolute will and great tact in dealing with difficulties 
which milder and less capable spirits would not venture to 
face, and that Paul fell back upon his energy and wisdom 
again and again. Strangely enough, Luke does not even 
mention his name. 

(5) One of the most remarkable omissions in the entire 
narrative is the omission of any mention of the epistles of 



"Acts 1. 14. 



320 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Paul. If these epistles had perished, we never would have 
known from this book that Paul had written any. These 
epistles bulk so large in our New Testament. They fill very 
nearly the same space in it as do Luke's two volumes of 
church history. Together with these they make up more 
than half of the book. Yet Luke makes no use of these 
epistles, and he never mentions one of them. They seem so 
important to us that it is difficult for us to see how Luke 
could have written so much about Paul and yet never have 
suggested that he made use of his pen as well as his tongue 
in behalf of the faith. 

(6) When we turn to these epistles of Paul we learn from 
scattered allusions in them that Luke has given us only an 
outline, a suggestion, of the manifold and marvelous ad- 
ventures of Paul. Paul was scourged on five different oc- 
casions by the Jews; Luke fails to tell us of any of them. 
Paul was beaten three times by the Roman lictors; Luke 
tells us of only one of these. Paul was imprisoned seven 
times ; Luke tells us of only two imprisonments. Paul was 
shipwrecked four times at least; Luke tells us of but one 
shipwreck, and that the last, on the voyage to Rome. In 
the Second Epistle to the Corinthians Paul mentions whole 
classes of hardships which he had undergone for the sake 
of the gospel, perils from rivers and from robbers and from 
false brethren, hunger, thirst, fasting, and nakedness in the 
wilderness; 51 and none of these things are even mentioned 
by Luke. There is so much of Paul's biography which Luke 
omits. What was the date of his birth? How old was he 
when he was converted? Was he a married man, a 
widower, or a voluntary celibate? These personal details 
are all interesting to us, and Luke could have settled these 
questions forever by a few added words. He is silent at 
all these points. 

(7) The narrative closes with unexpected abruptness. 



2 Cor. 11. 23-27. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 321 

We are told that Paul lived for two years at Rome and 
preached without hindrance, and then we are told no more. 
There are so many questions we would like to ask at this 
point. What did Paul say in his sermons at Rome ? Not a 
single sentence from that rich treasure does Luke give us. 
We know more about Paul's preaching for a single day in 
Athens or a few weeks in Thessalonica or a few months in 
Galatia than we do about this two years of ministry in the 
world capital. Was Paul released from his imprisonment? 
Did he visit Asia Minor again? Did he make the intended 
missionary journey to Spain? Did he pass through the 
Pillars of Hercules and up the coast beyond to the British 
Isles and the northern "extremities of the earth," as some 
so fondly claim ? Did Peter and Paul meet in Rome ? Did 
they both suffer martyrdom in that city? What fierce de- 
bates have been waged over these questions! The uncer- 
tainty which surrounds them to this day illustrates the im- 
portance of Luke's narrative. We feel that we can rely 
upon anything he tells us ; but when he is silent we are 
wholly at a loss and have no sure way out of the labyrinth 
of our own questioning. 

(8) The book of the Acts is a history of the founding of 
the Christian Church, yet what notable omissions there are 
in that history! Nothing is told us about the founding of 
the church in the farther East. Nothing is told us about the 
founding of the church at Rome. No mention is made of 
the church in Egypt. The church in Alexandria played such 
an important part in the later history that we would like to 
know something about its beginnings. Luke is silent upon 
these themes. 

(9) There are so many things concerning the constitution 
of the church and its modes of worship which Luke might 
have told us but which he has omitted. All of the various 
forms of church organization which have evolved in the 
course of the centuries are prone to claim apostolic author- 
ity, though they may be as far removed from each other as 



322 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

hierarchy from democracy. Just a few words from Luke 
might have settled many of these differences forever. 
Some may be glad that he did not write them, while others 
would prefer that the agelong controversies upon these 
points could have been avoided. 

Luke must have known about all of these things. Why 
has he chosen not to tell us of them ? Several reasons have 
been suggested. The outbreaking of the Neronian persecu- 
tion, which made it dangerous for a man to indulge in 
authorship of this character, may have prevented Luke from 
finishing his task. After the death of the apostle Paul he 
may have found himself thrust cut into such continuous 
evangelistic labors that he had no further leisure for literary 
work of any kind. His own imprisonment and martyrdom 
may have been responsible for the sudden close of his book. 
Julicher seems content with the suggestion that the book of 
Acts is exactly the size of the Gospel according to Luke, 
and that Luke, the author of both, was satisfied with his 
second work when it had reached the magnitude of the first, 
and so, impelled by a sense of proportion, was content to 
quit at that point. 52 This seems to us rather inadequate as 
an explanation. 

We think Luke surely must have intended to continue his 
narrative. He may have planned a third volume to crown 
his historical series. He may have intended to add to this 
second volume, as events developed, the account of further 
triumphs or final martyrdoms. We do not know, but we 
are inclined to believe that Hase is justified in saying: "For 
a genuine historian no other end of the book is to be thought 
of than the martyrdom of Paul, as the Gospel had closed 
with the crucifixion of the Lord. Whether this close was 
early lost, or the author was somehow hindered from writ- 
ing it, is one of the secrets of the past. I say, however, 
ideally, in the mind of the author, another ending has ex- 



Einleitung, S. 362. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 323 

isted." Balmer, Bertrand, Bleek, Burkitt, Credner, Ewald, 
Meyer, Rackham, Ramsay, Spitta, Zahn, and many others 
agree. 

There were most thrilling events in the years immediately 
succeeding the close of the book of Acts. There were Paul's 
trial at Rome, a hearing before the emperor himself, and 
possibly an acquittal by the imperial court. Luke has told 
us so fully about Paul's trials before subordinate officials; 
what a climax to this series would be found in Paul's final 
defense and final victory ! There was the martyrdom of 
James, the brother of the Lord. Then came the outbreak of 
the first imperial persecution and the martyrdom of both 
Peter and Paul. Then Jerusalem and the temple were de- 
stroyed and the Christian Church was finally freed from all 
Jewish ritual of worship and all restricting ties to Palestine. 
Luke knew of all these things and he had a historian's inter- 
est in them. He surely must have intended to chronicle 
them at some later time. As it stands our book of Acts 
seems surprisingly incomplete. 

There is one unfinished book in our Bible, and only one. 
In the Old Testament the books of the Law are complete. 
The prophets fulfilled their mission with word and pen. 
The Psalmbook is a perfect whole. So are Job, and Prov- 
erbs, and every other book. In the New Testament the 
four Gospels complement each other and give us the perfect 
picture of the Lord. The epistles meet the several emergen- 
cies which occasioned them. The Apocalypse ends the 
volume symmetrically, and is itself a literary gem. What- 
ever the reason may be, there is one unfinished book in the 
Bible. It is the book of Acts. The Acts of the Ascended 
Lord are still in process of consummation. The Acts of the 
Holy Spirit still go on. The Acts of the Missionary Church 
have new chapters added to them with each century. This 
book of the Acts of Jesus and the Spirit and the Church 
never will be finished through all eternity. 

2. Parallelisms. It is a peculiarity of Luke's style that he 



324 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

delights in personal contrasts. This was apparent again and 
again in the Gospel, where he placed in sharp contrast with 
each other the Pharisee and the publican, the good Sama- 
ritan and the indifferent Levite, Dives and Lazarus, Zach- 
arias and Mary, Martha and Mary, Simon and the sinful 
woman, the penitent and the impenitent thief. In this book 
we have a yet larger illustration. "First there is a general 
parallel between the Gospel according to Luke and the book 
of Acts. After a prefatory sentence both alike begin with 
an introductory period of waiting and preparation, which is 
more or less in private. 53 Then comes a baptism of the 
Spirit, 54 followed by a period of active work and min- 
istry. This is concluded by a 'passion' or period of suffer- 
ing, which in each volume occupies a seemingly dispropor- 
tionate space. The analogy here will appear more convinc- 
ing as we follow the later chapters, but the main outline 
stands out clear. After early anticipation 55 and a detailed 
journey up to Jerusalem 56 with 'last words' of the suf- 
ferer, 57 we have the 'passion proper. ' 58 And then in each 
case the book ends with a period of victorious but quiet 
preparation for a further advance, or another volume." 59 
Whatever may be thought of this parallelism between the 
two books written by Luke there can be no question about 
the parallelism inside the book of Acts between the nar- 
ratives given of the acts of Peter in the beginning chapters 
and of the acts of Paul in the closing chapters of the book. 
Like Plutarch at a later date, Luke selects from the lives of 
his two heroes those incidents which are most nearly related 
to each other in outward semblance and in inner character. 



08 Luke i-2', Acts I. 

64 Luke 3 ; Acts 2. 

65 Luke 9. 51; Acts 19. 21. 

B6 Luke 17. 11 to 19. 48; Acts 20 to 21. 17. 
67 Luke 20-21 ; Acts 20. 17-38. 
58 Luke 22-23; Acts 21. 17 to chap. 28. 
ou Rackham, Commentary, p. xlvii. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 325 

Peter is suspected of drunkenness 60 and Paul is accused 
of madness. 61 Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none." 62 
Paul said, "I coveted no man's silver or gold." 63 Is Peter 
miraculously released from prison at Jerusalem by an 
angel ? 64 Paul is miraculously released from prison at Phil- 
ippi by an earthquake. 65 Does Peter begin his miracles of 
healing by the restoration of a man lame from birth? 66 Paul 
begins with the same miracle of healing a man lame from 
birth at Lystra. 67 Does Peter's shadow heal the sick? 68 
Paul's handkerchiefs and aprons have the same healing 
power. 69 As Peter heals iEneas 70 Paul heals the father 
of Poplius. 71 The demons fear the name of Peter, 72 and 
they also fear the name of Paul. 73 

Over against the encounter of Peter with Simon Magus 74 
we have Paul's encounter with Elymas the sorcerer. 75 
Both raise the dead. Peter raises Tabitha from the dead, 76 
and Paul restores Eutychus to life. 77 Peter is instrumental 
in the performance of a punitive miracle, when Ananias and 
Sapphira fall dead, 78 and Paul makes use of a correspond- 
ing power when he smites Elymas with blindness. 79 The 
first Gentile convert made by Peter was a member of the 
noble Cornelian house ; 80 and the first Gentile convert made 
by Paul was a member of the noble ^Emilian house. 81 
Gamaliel's proposition concerning Peter 82 is paralleled with 
Gallio's treatment of Paul. 83 



"Acts 2. 13. 72 Acts 5. 16; 8. 7. 

61 Acts 26. 24. 73 Acts 16. 18; 19. 11, 15; 28. 9. 

62 Acts 3. 6. 74 Acts 8. 18-24.- 
88 Acts 20. 33. 75 Acts 13. 6-1 1. 
"Acts 12. 6-12. 76 Acts 9. 36-42. 
86 Acts 16. 26-34. " Acts 20. 9-12. 
66 Acts 3. 2-10. 7s Acts 5. i-ii. 
"Acts 14. 8-10. "Acts 13. 6-11. 

68 Acts 5. 15. 80 Acts 10. 1. 

69 Acts 19. 12. 81 Acts 13. 12. 

70 Acts 9. 34. 82 Acts 5. 34-39. 

71 Acts 28. 8. ^Acts 18. 14-17. 



326 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Visions are granted to both these men, to Peter on the 
housetop at Joppa, 84 and to Paul on the road to Damas- 
cus. 85 The agreement in the narrative is all the more re- 
markable since the vision is doubled in each case, a cor- 
responding revelation being given to Cornelius in the former 
instance, 86 and to Ananias in the latter. 87 We notice, 
further, that Peter hears the divine voice three times 88 and 
that the story of the threefold revelation is three times re- 
peated in the book. 89 Paul likewise hears a voice from 
heaven three times 90 and the story is repeated three times 
in the book. 91 

Cornelius falls at Peter's feet to worship him, 92 and the 
same divine worship is proffered to Paul at Lystra and 
Malta. 93 Both Peter and Paul refuse the worship in 
strangely parallel phraseology. 94 

Peter has the power to give the Holy Spirit by the laying 
on of hands in Samaria, 95 and Paul has the same power in 
Ephesus. 96 The same miracle, the miracle of tongues, fol- 
lows in similar circumstances with Peter 97 and with Paul. 98 
Both are persecuted by Sadducees and supported by Phari- 
sees in the Council. 99 Paul adopts the language of Peter 
and Peter uses the language of Paul. We might increase 
this list of parallelisms, but it will be sufficient to quote 
Holtzmann's conclusion, based upon these and other pas- 
sages : "Say what you will, the fact remains that in the Acts 
no single suffering or miracle of Peter is recorded which 
in its general character is not paralleled in the miracles and 
sufferings of Paul. 100 

84 Acts 10. 9-17. "Acts 14. 12-14; 28. 6. 

85 Acts 9. 3-8. "Acts 10. 26; 14. 15. 

86 Acts 10. 3-7. 95 Acts 8. 17-20. 

87 Acts 9. 10-17. "Acts 19. 6. 
88 Acts 10. 16. "Acts 10. 46. 
89 Acts 10. 9-16; 10. 28; 11. 5-10. "Acts 19. 6. 

90 Acts 22. 7, 8, 10. "Acts 5. 17, 34; 23. 6, 9. 

"Acts 9. 3-7; 22. 6-10; 26. 13-18. 10 ° Hand-Commentar, S. 320. 
"Acts 10. 26. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 327 

Plutarch paralleled the lives of great men among the 
Romans and among the Greeks. He put them side by side 
and selected from their biographies those incidents which 
emphasized their likeness to each other, and the method 
resulted in some most surprising and most interesting con- 
trasts and comparisons. In the same way it would seem 
that Luke had aimed to parallel Peter and Paul and to show 
that the leaders of the antagonistic elements in the early 
church, the Jewish and the Gentile elements, were alike in 
words and deeds, in aims and in accomplishments. The 
Tubingen School jumped to the conclusion that this paral- 
lelism was a pure invention and that it could not be founded 
on fact. We think otherwise. Genuine history sometimes 
has strange parallels in it. 

Salmon has called our attention to one of these when he 
says : "On the principles of criticism by which the Acts have 
been judged, the history of France for the first half of the 
nineteenth century and the last years of the century preced- 
ing, ought to be rejected as but an attempt to make a 
parallel to the history of England one hundred and fifty 
years before. Both stories tell of a revolution, of the be- 
heading of a king, of the foundation of a republic, suc- 
ceeded by a military despotism, and ending with the restora- 
tion of the exiled family. In both cases the restored family 
misgoverns, and the king is again dethroned; but this time 
a republic is not founded, neither is the king put to death; 
but he retires into exile, and is replaced by a kinsman who 
succeeds, on different terms, to the vacated throne." 101 

There is the strange course of events in England begin- 
ning with the Roundhead Revolution and the beheading of 
Charles I, followed by the Commonwealth with the Rump 
Parliament, followed by Cromwell, and then the restoration 
of Charles II and James II his brother, followed by the 
crowning of William and Mary the daughter of James II, 



101 Salmon, Introduction, p. 311. 



328 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ^.CTS 

on the basis of the Declaration of Rights, affirming the 
ancient liberties of England. Who could have prophesied 
that one hundred and fifty years later the same general 
course of events would take place in the history of France, 
beginning with the beheading of Louis XVI in the French 
Revolution, followed by the Jacobins and the Reign of 
Terror, followed in turn by Napoleon the First Consul and 
then the Emperor, succeeded by the restoration of Louis 
XVIII and Charles X his brother, and then the July Revolu- 
tion in which Louis Philippe was made the "citizen king," 
on the basis of an altered charter, putting the religious 
bodies on a level, granting the freedom of the press, and 
limiting the powers of the king? There the history stands 
and no one thinks of questioning its authenticity at any point 
because it becomes possible to point out this strange parallel- 
ism. 

We recall another strange parallel in the lives of two 
Americans, Jonathan Edwards the father and Jonathan Ed- 
wards the son. Not only were their names the same and 
were they much alike in mental and spiritual characteristics, 
but also the course of events in their lives ran very 
strangely parallel. Both were tutors in the college where 
they had been students. Each of them was first ordained 
over a prominent church in the town where his maternal 
grandfather had been the pastor. Both were dismissed on 
account of doctrinal opinions. Each then became minister 
of a retired parish. Both were called from their tempo- 
rary obscurity to the presidency of a college. Each died at 
the age of about fifty-five years, soon after his inaugura- 
tion. On the first Sabbath of the January preceding their 
death, each of them preached from the text, "This year 
thou shalt die." Will the critic of future days come upon 
this parallelism and decide that it must be a pure invention 
and that no father and son ever could have had such 
strangely parallel careers? There are no parallels in the 
book of Acts any more wonderful than these, and we are not 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 329 

inclined to doubt their historicity on the sole ground of 
their similarity. 

3. Accuracy. A third noticeable feature of this book is 
the historical accuracy it has been shown to possess by all 
authority which can be cited from the ancient world. On 
this point Rackham has said : "We shall be abundantly satis- 
fied as to Luke's historical accuracy, if we reflect on the ex- 
traordinary test to which it was put, i. e., the variety of scene 
and circumstance with which he had to deal. The ground 
covered reached from Jerusalem to Rome, taking in Syria, 
Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. In that field were comprised 
all manner of populations, civilizations, administrations — 
Jewish and Oriental life, Western civilization, great capitals 
like Antioch and Ephesus, Roman colonies, independent 
towns, Greek cities, 'barbarian' country districts. The 
history covers a period of thirty years which witnessed in 
many parts great political changes. Provinces like Cyprus 
and Achaia were being exchanged between the emperor 
and the senate; parts of Asia Minor, e. g., Pisidia and 
Lycaonia, were undergoing a process of annexation and 
latinization ; Judaea itself was now a Roman province under 
a procurator, now an independent state under a Herodian 
king. Yet in all this intricacy of political arrangement Luke 
is never found tripping. . . . He is equally at home with 
the Sanhedrin and its parties, the priests and temple guard, 
and the Herodian princes at Jerusalem, with the proconsuls 
of Cyprus and Achaia, the rulers of the synagogue and first 
men of Antioch in Pisidia, the priest of Zeus at Lystra, the 
prcctors, lictors and jailer of Philippi, the politarchs of Thes- 
salonica, the Areopagus of Athens, the Asiarchs with the 
people, assembly and secretary of Ephesus, the centurions, 
tribune and procurator of Judea, the first man of Malta and 
the captain of the camp at Rome. Such accuracy would have 
been almost impossible for a writer compiling the history 
fifty years later." 102 

108 Rackham, Commentary, p. xlv. 



330 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

It is at this point that Luke's reputation has been gaining 
steadily through the last half century. His accuracy used 
to be questioned, even when it was not strenuously denied, 
by many of the best authorities; but the investigations of 
Lightfoot and Ramsay and Vigoroux have gone far to 
establish Luke's unfailing accuracy in geographical and po- 
litical and social data. If at one or two points Luke still 
seems to be at variance with other ancient authorities, his 
proved consistency and carefulness as a historian leads us 
to hope and believe that with added knowledge on our part 
his accuracy may be vindicated even to the last degree. 
Strabo said that the rulers of Cyprus were called propraetors. 
Therefore when Luke said that Sergius Paulus was pro- 
consul in Cyprus the older commentators decided at once 
that Luke had made a mistake in this title ; but in our own 
day Cesnola has found a coin in his excavations in Cyprus 
with the name of Paulus the proconsul upon it. Inasmuch 
as the coin was made in the days of the Emperor Claudius, 
and inasmuch as Paul visited Cyprus during this emperor's 
reign, it may be the name of Sergius Paulus himself which 
appears upon this coinage. At any rate, this coin has proved 
that Luke was correct in the use of the title. 

Luke speaks of the politarchs at Thessalonica. 103 This 
name was not to be found in ancient literature. Therefore 
it used to be cited as a proof that Luke had extraordinary 
powers of invention rather than those of accurate observa- 
tion. Yet all the time the critics were assailing Luke at this 
point a Roman triumphal arch was standing in Thessalonica 
itself on which the title politarchs was engraved in large 
letters. The arch probably was erected in the first century 
after Christ. It was destroyed by the Turks, but the British 
Consul rescued the block containing this title and the list of 
the politarchs with it, and it is now one of the treasures of 
the British Museum. More recently the title has been 
found on no less than nineteen inscriptions in Macedonia 

103 Acts 17. 6. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 331 

and all scholars recognize it as a title peculiar to Macedonian 
use and most accurately reported by Luke. 104 

Luke calls the governor of Malta the Primus, or chief 
man. 105 The scholars could not find this name anywhere, 
and they were sure that Luke had made another mistake in 
the use of this title. However, an ancient inscription has been 
dug up in Malta with this title upon it ; and Luke's accuracy 
has been vindicated at this point. Luke describes Philippi as 
a chief city of the ^ep/c of Macedonia. 106 Here was a new 
name for a district or province, and even Westcott and Hort 
concluded that Luke was in error in using it, and they have 
marked it as a doubtful reading in their text. However, 
since their death some ancient Macedonian coins have been 
discovered with this word upon them, and certain documents 
have been found in the Fayum proving beyond a doubt that 
Luke's technical term is a legitimate one and one particu- 
larly associated with Macedonia. 107 

Luke never mentions the epistles of Paul, and yet Luther 
called the book of Acts a commentary upon these epistles. 
They give us the historical setting for all of them except the 
Pastoral Epistles and the volume of undesigned coincidences 
between the historical narrative of Luke and the private 
and the public letters of Paul go a great way toward estab- 
lishing the authenticity and the reliability of both. Paley's 
Horae Paulinae is the classic presentation of the argument 
founded upon these coincidences. 

Luke's accuracy in general and in minor details can be 
well tested in the chapter in which he gives the account of 
the voyage to Rome and of Paul's shipwreck on the island 
of Malta. Breusing, director of the naval academy in 
Bremen, in his volume, Die Nautik der Alien, declares : "The 
most valuable nautical document preserved to us from an- 



104 Burton, American Journal of Theology, vol. ii, pp. 598-632. 

105 Acts 28. 7. 
108 Acts 16. 12. 

1W Hogarth, Authority and Archaeology, pp. 349-350. 



332 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

tiquity is the description of the sea journey and shipwreck 
of the apostle Paul. Every seaman recognizes at once that 
it must have been written by an eyewitness." 108 Schaff 
agrees : "It contains more information about ancient naviga- 
tion than any work of Greek or Roman literature, and be- 
trays the minute accuracy of an intelligent eyewitness, who, 
though not a professional seaman, was very familiar with 
nautical terms from close observation. He uses no less than 
sixteen technical terms, some of them rare, to describe the 
motion and management of a ship, and all of them most 
appropriately; and he is strictly correct in the description 
of the localities at Crete, Salmone, Fair Havens, Cauda, 
Lasea and Phoenix (two small places recently identified), 
and Melita (Malta), as well as the motions and effects of 
the tempestuous northeast wind called Euraquilo in the 
Mediterranean." 109 

James Smith was the commodore of the Royal Northern 
Yacht Club. He was a scholar but not a professional theo- 
logian. He sailed over the course of Paul's voyage and by 
a multitude of minute coincidences he was convinced of 
Luke's faithfulness to the truth throughout. Even the 
soundings and the nature of the sea bottom off Point Koura 
in the island of Malta confirmed Luke's account of the ship- 
wreck. Smith published his findings in a volume, The Voy- 
age and Shipwreck of St. Paul. The book has gone through 
several editions and is an authoritative presentation of the 
facts in this field. 

All that Luke tells us of Gamaliel, Agrippa I, Agrippa II, 
Bernice, Drusilla, Felix, Festus, Gallio, Sergius Paulus and 
other historical personages is confirmed by all we can learn 
concerning them in any other way. Plis delineation of char- 
acter agrees with that we can obtain from any reliable sec- 
ular authority. One hundred and ten persons are named in 
the book of Acts and Luke has made their characters vivid 

108 Op. cit., S. xiii. 

1M Schaff, op. cit., pp. 736, 737. 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 333 

and individual. They are more than names. They are per- 
sonalities. The scenes in which they move are true to life 
and the opinions and positions they represent are always 
those of their own day and general situation. There are no 
anachronisms either in their thought or their historical set- 
ting. Luke's accuracy would seem to be attested sufficiently 
by ancient histories, coins, and inscriptions, as well as by 
the most searching geographical, topographical, and nautical 
investigation. His critics have alleged many errors against 
him, but again and again these errors have been proved to 
be those of the critics themselves. Luke is to be judged 
by the standard of his day rather than by that of our own, 
but, judged by this standard, he compares favorably with 
the greatest and best of the ancient historians. 110 

IV. Author and Sources of Information 

Dr. J. Rendel Harris estimates the results of recent 
criticism upon the authorship of the book of Acts as fol- 
lows: "Thanks to the acuteness of Ramsay's archaeological 
and historical criticism, taken along with the linguistic re- 
searches of Hawkins, the studies in medical language of 
Hobart, and, finally, the weighty and apparently unanswer- 
able criticisms of Harnack (himself a convert from very 
different views of the composition of the Lucan writings), 
we are able to affirm Luke's rights over the works commonly 
attributed to him with an emphasis that has probably not 
been laid upon them since their first publication." 1X1 Luke's 
authorship of the book of Acts is denied by Baur, Clemen, 
Hausrath, Hilgenfeld, Holtzmann, Julicher, Konigsmann, 
Knopf, Norden, Overbeck, Pfleiderer, Schiirer, Spitta, 



110 Compare Kirsopp Lake on the "we-clauses," Dictionary of 
Apostolic Church, vol. i, p. 22. Also Harnack, The Acts of the 
Apostles, p. 298, "Judged from almost every possible standpoint of 
historical criticism it is a solid, respectable, and in many respects 
an extraordinary work." 

m In The British Friend, April, 1913. 



334 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Soltau, Sorof, von Soden, J. Weiss, de Wette, Weizsacker, 
Wendt, and Zeller ; but it has been clearly proved by Blass, 
Credner, Harnack, Hawkins, Hobart, Klostermann, Plum- 
mer, Ramsay, Renan, Vogel, Bernhard Weiss, and Theodore 
Zahn that the Gospel and the book of Acts were written by 
the same man and have the same characteristics of spirit 
and style throughout and that these are the characteristics of 
Luke, and there is a growing inclination everywhere to 
accept the traditional authorship as most fully meeting 
all the demands of the case. 112 The Gospel and the book 
of Acts are too important in the New Testament literature, 
and Luke is too unimportant in the New Testament history 
for them to have been ascribed to him in the beginning ex- 
cept upon the best of evidence; and the most painstaking 
investigation in this critical age only confirms the judgment 
of the Fathers at this point. 

Luke's name is not found in connection with the book of 
Acts in any uncial manuscript, and his name does not occur 
anywhere in the narrative itself, and therefore others have 
been suggested as possible authors, Timothy, Titus, Silas, 
and other companions of Paul; but the similarities of style 
and of structure between this book and the Gospel accord- 
ing to Luke have convinced the best of the modern critics of 
a single authorship for the two works, and Moffatt declares 
that the contrary hypothesis "should nowadays be decently 
interred under the epitaph, 'Non fui, fui, non sum.' " 

Therefore, recognizing Luke as the author, we conclude 
from the narrative itself that he was a hero-worshiper of 
the first order, believing, like Carlyle, that history prin- 
cipally and essentially was only the history of great men, 
and that The Acts of these creative days in church history 
could be presented best in the biographies of Peter and Paul. 



112 Kirsopp Lake, in the Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. i, 
p. 20, concludes : "The traditional view that Luke, the companion of 
St. Paul, was the editor of the whole book is the most reasonable 
one." 



THE BOOK OF ACTS 335 

Two thirds of the book are given to the biography of Paul, 
practically all of it after the first twelve chapters, and Paul 
is mentioned at least seven times in five of these beginning 
chapters. 113 In all probability Luke never would have 
written this book if he had not had such an admiration for 
Paul. To Luke Paul is a hero of the first class, and his life 
history is worthy of record together with that of the Master. 
Luke must have been a man of open eyes and open ears, 
a man who carried a notebook and kept a diary. The "we 
sections," so called, 114 are extracts from his diary. David- 
son says of these, "They are characterized by a circumstan- 
tiality of detail, a vividness of description, an exact knowl- 
edge of localities, an acquaintance with the habits and 
phrases of seamen, which betray one who was personally 
present." The accounts of the mission in Samaria, the elec- 
tion of the deacons, the martyrdom of Stephen doubtless 
were jottings in Luke's notebook, made in those days 
which he spent in the home of Philip in Caesarea. 115 He 
may also have met Cornelius there and heard from 
his own lips his wonderful story. Some of these 
things he saw and some he heard from the mouths of prin- 
cipal actors or eyewitnesses, such as Paul and his compan- 
ions, Aristarchus, Erastus, Silas, Sopater, Timothy, Titus, 
Trophimus, and Tychicus, and such as Barnabas and John 
Mark and Manaen and Mnason and Symeon Niger and 
Lucius of Cyrene. Then there were the apostles James and 
Peter, and others whom Luke may have met, either at Jeru- 
salem or at Rome. At any rate, he must have listened to 
the accounts given by many of the eyewitnesses and min- 
isters of the Word concerning all of these events which he 
has recorded in the book of Acts. He had first hand and 
first-class authority for all his statements, and he has 



Acts 7. 58; 8. 1 ; 9. 1-30; n. 25, 26, 30; 12. 25. 
Acts 16. 10-17; 20. 5-15; 21. 1-18; 27. 1 to 28. 16. 



113 
114 

115 Acts 21. 8-10 



336 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

weighed and sifted them with the care of a first-rate his- 
torian. 

He also may have had access to some documents, as he 
had in the composition of the Gospel. It is acknowledged 
by all that there is a certain difference of style between the 
earlier chapters and the later chapters of this book. The 
prologue and the "we sections" are written in purer Greek. 
The earlier chapters are more Aramaic in character. Stated 
vaguely and generally this is true, and the more Aramaic 
character of the earlier portion of the book may be ac- 
counted for by the fact that Luke was more dependent here 
upon narratives already put into written form. 

The Gospel according to Luke is the longest book in the 
New Testament. The Acts of the Apostles is next in size. 
It may be considered more important than the Gospel since 
it is the sole authority in its field. There are more textual 
variations in the book of Acts than in any other New Testa- 
ment book. It is in this book that the Bezan or Western 
readings introduced the largest number of additions and 
changes. We are inclined to think that this book was given 
its final touches about A. D. 63, and that it therefore ante- 
dated the final editing of the Gospel. 

We are thankful for all which Luke has written. It is 
an invaluable treasure. We are disposed to say that Luke 
is without a peer among historical writers, for he has de- 
scribed the most sublime life which ever appeared in the 
world, and then he has written a second book describing the 
origin and growth of the most powerful intellectual, moral, 
and social force which has influenced the world. No other 
historian has had access to the original sources for the 
delineation of such important themes. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

We give an alphabetical list of a few good books on each of the 
fields of study covered in this volume, and we star some of the best 
of these. 

I. Introductions to the New Testament 

Adeney, Walter F. A Biblical Introduction, New Testament. 

Allen and Grensted. Introduction to the Books of the New Testa- 
ment. 

Bacon, B. W. An Introduction to the New Testament. 

Bleek, Friedrich. Einleitung in das Neue Testament. 

Book by Book. 

Books of the Bible. 

Clemen, Carl. Entstehung des Neuen Testaments. 

Cone, Orello. The Gospel and its Earliest Interpretations. 

Davidson, Samuel. An Introduction to the Study of the New 
Testament. 

Dods, Marcus. An Introduction to the New Testament. 

Eichhorn, Johann G. Historisch-kritische Einleitung in das Neue 
Testament. 

*Farrar, Frederick W. Messages of the Books. 

*Fraser, Donald. Lectures on the Bible. 

Harnack, Adolf. Das Neue Testament um das Jahr 200. 
Die altchristliche Literatur. 

Holtzmann, H. J. Lehrbuch der historisch-kritischen Einleitung in 
das Neue Testament. 

Jiilicher, Adolf. Einleitung in das Neue Testament. 

Martin, G. Currie. The Books of the New Testament. 

♦McClymont, J. A. The New Testament and its Writers. 

Michaelis, Johann David. Introduction to the Divine Scriptures of 
the New Covenant. 

Milligan, George. The New Testament Documents. 

*Moffatt, James. Introduction to the Literature of the New Testa- 
ment. 

*Peake, Arthur S. A Critical Introduction to the New Testament. 

Pullan, Leighton. The Books of the New Testament. 

Reuss, Eduard. Geschichte der heiligen Schriften des Neuen Testa- 
ments. 

Salmon, George. Introduction to the New Testament 

Sanday, W. Inspiration. 

337 



338 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

♦Strong, A. H. Popular Lectures on the Books of the New Testa- 
ment. 
Von Soden, Hermann. The History of Early Christian Literature. 
Weiss, Bernhard. A Manual of Introduction to the New Testament. 
Willett and Campbell. The Teachings of the Books. 
♦Zahn, Theodore. Introduction to the New Testament. 

II. Commentaries on the New Testament 

Cambridge Bible. 
Cambridge Greek Testament. 
*Century Bible. 
Expositor's Bible. 
♦Expositor's Greek Testament. 
Handbuch zum Neuen Testament. 
Hand-Commentar zum Neuen Testament. 
♦International Critical Commentary. 
International Handbooks to the New Testament. 
Meyer's Commentary on the New Testament. 
Schriften des Neuen Testaments. 
♦Westminster Commentaries. 
♦Westminster New Testament. 

III. The Gospels 

Baur, F. C. Die Evangelien. 

♦Burkitt, F. C. The Gospel History and its Transmission. 

Cone, Orello. Gospel Criticism and Historical Christianity. 

Godet, Frederic. The Collection of the Gospels and the Gospel ac- 
cording to Matthew. 

♦Robinson, J. A. The Study of the Gospels. 

Salmon, George. The Human Element in the Gospels. 

Sanday, W. The Gospels in the Second Century. 

Stanton, V. H. The Gospels as Historical Documents. 

Weizsacker, Carl. Untersuchungen iiber die evangelische Geschichte, 
ihre Quellen und die Gang ihrer Entwicklung. 

Wernle, Paul. Sources of our Knowledge of the Life of Christ. 

♦Westcott, B. F. Introduction to the Study of the Gospels. 

Wright, Arthur. The Composition of the Four Gospels. 

IV. Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels 

Abbott, E. A. Clue. 

Bacon, B. W. The Beginnings of Gospel Story. 

Buckley, E. R. Introduction to the Synoptic Problem. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 339 

Burton, E. D. Principles of Literary Criticism and the Synoptic 
Problem. 

Carpenter, J. E. The First Three Gospels, their Origin and Rela- 
tions. 

Gloag, P. J. Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels. 

Harnack, Adolf. The Sayings of Jesus. 

Hawkins, J. C. Horae Synopticas: Contributions to the Study of 
the Synoptic Gospels. 

Holdsworth, W. W. Gospel Origins. 

Holtzmann, H. J. Die synoptische Evangelien, ihr Ursprung und 
geschichtlicher Charakter. 

Huck, A. Synopse der drei ersten Evangelien. 

Jolley, A. J. The Synoptic Problem for English Readers. 

Loisy, A. Les evangiles synoptiques. 

*Oxford Studies in the Synoptic Problem. 

Patton, Carl S. Sources of the Synoptic Gospels. 

Petrie, W. Flinders. The Growth of the Gospels as shown by 
Structural Criticism. 

Rushbrooke, W. G Synopticon. 

Sanday, W. Survey of the Synoptic Question. 
Life of Christ in Modern Research. 

Scott-Moncrieff, C. E. St. Mark and the Triple Tradition. 

Thompson, J. M. The Synoptic Gospels. 

Volkmar, Gustav. Die Evangelien, oder Marcus und die Synopse. 

Weiss, B. Das Marcusevangelium und seine synoptischen Paral- 
leled 

Das Matthausevangelium und seine Lucas-parallelen. 
Die Quellen des Lucas-Evangeliums. 
Die Quellen des synoptischen Uberlieferung. 

Wernle, Paul. Die synoptische Frage. 

Wright, Arthur. Synopsis of the Gospels in Greek. 

V. Commentaries on the Synoptic Gospels 

Bruce, A. B. Expositor's Greek Testament. 

Cary, G. L. International Handbooks to the New Testament. 

Holtzmann, H. J. Der Hand-Commentar zum Neuen Testament. 

Weiss, B. Meyer's Commentary on the New Testament. 

Weiss, J. Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments. 

Wernle, Paul. Synoptische Frage. 

VI. Commentaries on the Gospel According to Matthew 
Allen, W. C. International Critical Commentary. 
Broadus, J. A. American Commentary. 



340 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Carr, A. Cambridge Greek Testament. 

Holtzmann, H. J. Hand-Commentar. 

Kiibel, Robert. Handbuch zura Evangelium des Matthaus. 

*Morison, James, Practical Commentary on the Gospel according 
to St. Matthew. 

*Plummer, Alfred. An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel ac- 
cording to St. Matthew. 

Slater, W. F. The New Century Bible. 

Weiss, B. Meyer's Commentary. 

Wellhausen, J. Das Evangelium Matthaei. 

Zahn, Theodor. Zahn's Kommentar. 

Zockler, Otto. Lange's Bibel Werk. 

VII. Commentaries on the Gospel According to Mark 

Bacon, B. W. The Beginnings of Gospel Story. 

Burton, E. D. Studies in Gospel of Mark. 

Cook, F. C. Speaker's Commentary. 

♦Gould, E. P. International Critical Commentary. 

Horton, R. F. The Cartoons of Mark. 

Maclear, G. F. Cambridge Greek Testament. 

Menzies, A. The Earliest Gospel. 

Morison, James. Practical Commentary on the Gospel according to 

St. Mark. 
Plumptre, E. H. Ellicott's Commentary. 
Salmond, S. D. E. New Century Bible. 
*Swete, H. B. The Gospel according to St. Mark. 
Weiss, Bernhard. Das Evangelium des Markus und Lukas, 

Meyer's Commentary. 
Weiss, Johannes. Das alteste Evangelium. 
Wellhausen, J. Das Evangelium Marci. 

VIII. Commentaries on the Gospel According to Luke 

Adeney, W. F. The New Century Bible. 

Burton, Henry. Expositor's Bible. 

Campbell, C. Critical Studies in St. Luke's Gospel. 

Farrar, F. W. Cambridge Greek Testament. 

Garvie, A. E. Westminster New Testament. 

Godet, Frederic. Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke. 

Hervey, Arthur. The Authenticity of St. Luke's Gospel. 

Hobart, W. K. The Medical Language of St. Luke. 

♦Plummer, Alfred. International Critical Commentary. 

Plumptre, E. H. Ellicott's Commentary. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 341 

Selwyn, E. C. Luke the Prophet. 
Weiss, Bernhard. Meyer's Commentary. 
Wellhausen, J. Das Evangelium Lucae. 

IX. The Apostolic Age 

♦Bartlet, Vernon. The Apostolic Age: Its Life, Doctrine, Worship, 
and Polity. 

Dobschiitz, Ernst von. Christian Life in the Primitive Church. 

Harnack, Adolf. The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three 
Centuries. 

Hausrath, A. Times of the Apostles. 

Heinrici, C. F. G. Das Urchristentum. 

Lechler, G. V. The Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times. 

Lightfoot, J. B. Dissertations on the Apostolic Age. 

McGiffert, A. C. A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age. 

Neander, Augustus. History of the Planting and Training of the 
Christian Church. 

Pfleiderer, Otto. Primitive Christianity, Its Documents and Doc- 
trines. 

Purves, G. T. Christianity in the Apostolic Age. 

Renan, Ernest. The Apostles. 

Ritschl, Albrecht. The Origin of the Early Catholic Church. 

Ropes, J. H. The Apostolic Age in the Light of Modern Criticism. 

Schaff, Philip. Apostolic Christianity. 

Weizsacker, Carl von. The Apostolic Age of the Christian Church. 

*Wernle, Paul. The Beginnings of Christianity. 

X. The Acts of the Apostles 

Blass, Friedrich. Acta Apostolorum. 

Bartlet, J. V. The New Century Bible. 

Chase, F. H. The Credibility of Acts. 

Clemen, C. Die Apostelgeschichte im Lichte der neueren Forsch- 

ungen. 
Forbes, H. P. International Handbooks to the New Testament. 
Hackett, H. B. American Commentary. 
Harnack, A. Luke the Physician. 

The Acts of the Apostles. 

The Date of Acts and Synoptic Gospels. 
Hilgenfeld, A. B. C. Acta Apostolorum. 
Holtzmann, H. J. Hand-Commentar. 
Jones, Maurice. St. Paul the Orator. 
♦Knowling, R. J. Expositor's Greek Testament. 



342 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

Lumby, J. Rawson. Cambridge Greek Testament. 
Page, T. E. The Acts of the Apostles. 
*Rackham, R. B. Westminster Commentary. 
Ramsay, W. M. The Church in the Roman Empire. 
St. Paul the Traveller. 
Pauline Studies. 
The Cities of St. Paul. 
Luke the Physician. 
Stokes, G. T. Expositor's Bible. 

Smith, James. The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul. 
Spitta, Friedrich. Die Apostelgeschichte, ihre Quellen und deren 

Geschichtlicher Wert. 
Weiss, J. Ueber die Absicht und den literarischen Charakter der 

Apostelgeschichte. 
Wendt, H. H. Meyer Kommentar. 

Zeller, Eduard. Die Apostelgeschichte nach ihrem Inhalt und Ur- 
sprung untersucht. 

The articles in Hastings's Bible Dictionary, Hastings's Dictionary 
of Christ and the Gospels, Hastings's Dictionary of the Apostolic 
Age, Cheyne's Encyclopedia Biblica, the International Standard Bible 
Encyclopaedia, and other general authorities may be consulted with 
profit. 



I. INDEX OF NAMES 



Abbott, 92, 165, 290, 338 

Adeney, 337, 340 

Adeodatus, 19 

Alexander, 114 

Alexander, Bishop, 262, 263 

Alexandria, 116 

Alford, 86, 165, 202, 290, 297 

Alison, 192 

Allen, 86, 95, 122, 124, 163, 294, 

297, 337, 339 
Ambrose, 166 
Andrews, 235 
Angelico da Fiasola, 122 
Annas, 215, 239 
Aretaeus, 186, 197 
Aristarchus, 178 
Aristion, 168, 169 
Ariston, 168 
Athanasius, 116, 168 
Athenaeus, 197 

Augustine, 85, 123, 124, 166, 181 
Augustus, 215, 239 
Ayles, 85, 95 

Bacon, 294, 337, 338, 340 

Balmer, 323 

Bartholomew, 96 

Bartlet, 341 

Basil, 168 

Bauer, 124 

Baur, 124, 333, 338 

Beecher, 315 

Bellini, 122 

Bengel, 86, 134, 165 

Benson, 86 

Bertrand, 323 

Beyschlag, 204 

Bloomneld, 86 

Bickersteth, 165 

Bisping, 165 

Blass, 334, 341 

Bleek, 86, 95, 124, 165, 204, 323, 

338 
Bloomneld, 86 
Bonvicino, 122 
Bossuet, 211 
Box, 75 
Breusing, 331 



Broadus, 339 

Browning, 263 

Bruce,. 45, 163, 339 

Bruder, 158 

Buckley, 338 

Burgon, 165 

Burkitt, 323, 338 

Burton, E., 89, 331, 339, 340 

Burton, H., 340 

Calovius ; 99 

Calvin, 86, 184 

Campbell, 150, 165, 337, 340 

Carlyle, 265, 334 

Carpenter, 339 

Carr, 340 

Cary, 339 

Cave, 99 

Cesnola, 330 

Chase, 341 

Chrysostom, 166 

Claudius, 215, 330 

Clemen, 333, 337, 341 

Clement of Alexandria, 33, 116, 

121, 124, 168, 303 
Clement of Rome, 168 
Cleopas, 183 
Coleridge, 247 
Cone, 337, 338 
Cook, 165, 204, 340 
Conybeare, 168 
Cranmer, 184 
Credner, 86, 87, 128, 165, 204, 289, 

323, 334 

Cyprian, 168 

Cyril of Alexandria, 168 

Cyril of Jerusalem, 85, 168 

Da Costa, 130 

D'Alembert, 241 

Dante, 265 

Davidson, 86, 165, 337 

Deissmann, 179 

Delitzsch, 42, 86, 124 

Demas, 177, 191 

De Wette, 86, 124, 165, 204, 334 

Didymus, 166 

Dionysius, 116 



343 



344 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 



Dioscorides, 186, 197 
Divina Commedia, 18 
Dobschutz, 341 
Dods, 86, 337 
Dorotheus, 19 

Ebrard, 95, 165, 202, 290 

Edersheim, 165 

Edwards, 328 

Eichhorn, 165, 293, 337 

Ellicott, 86, 165 

Epiphanius, 85, 113, 116, 124, 166, 

183, 196, 236 
Erasmus, 86 
Eusebius, 80, 85, 95, 116, 119, 120, 

I2i, 122, 124, 144, 166, 168, 169, 

192, 246, 311 
Evans, 306 

Ewald, 86, 124, 133, 165, 204, 323 
Ewald, P., 120 

Farrar, 18, 21, 34, 79, 129, 139, 

165, 202, 290, 312, 337, 340 
Forbes, 341 
Fraser, 43, 337 
Fritzsche, 86, 124, 165 

Galen, 186, 226 

Garvie, 340 

Gfrorer, 75 

Gieseler, 289 

Gloag, 202, 289, 339 

Godet, 43, 72, 89, 95, 127, 165, 173, 

202, 204, 290, 338, 340 
Gould, 124, 165, 170, 290, 340 
Gregory, 165, 168 
Gregory of Nazianzus, 168 
Gregory of Nyssa, 168 
Grensted, 337 
Griesbach, 124, 165, 174 
Grotius, 99, 165 
Guericke, 86, 165, 202, 290 

Hackett, 341 

Hamlet, 18 

Haraack, 192, 217, 227, 228, 293, 

294, 297, 333, 334, 337, 339, 341 
Hams, 167, 333 
Hase, 322 
Hausrath, 333, 341 
Hawkins, 80, 155, 287, 333, 334. 

339. . 
Heinnci, 341 
Herder, 265 



Her mas, 166 

Herod Antipas, 23 

Herodotus, 191, 311 

Hervey, 340 

Hilgenfeld, 86, 165, 204, 333, 341 

Hippocrates, 186, 187 

Hippolytus, 135, 136 

Hitzig, 124, 165 

Hobart, 226, 228, 333, 334, 340 

Hofmann, 165, 202 

Holdsworth, 87, 339 

Holtzmann, 86, 95, 124, 165, 204, 

293, 333, 337, 339, 340, 34* 
Homer, 177 
Home, 86, 202 
Hort, 165, 166, 228, 229, 331 
Horton, 159, 340 
Huck, 339 
Hug, 86, 95, 165, 173, 202, 204 

Irenaeus, 85, 121, 124, 166, 246, 

303 

Iverach, 283 

Jackson, 13, 295 

Jerome, 85, 116, 124, 168, 181, 192, 

204, 246 
Jolley, 339 
Jones, 341 
Julicher, 17, 86, 96, 204, 294, 322, 

333, 337 
Justin Martyr, 120, 165 

Kahnis, 124, 134 
Keble, 188 
Keil, 86, 95, 202 
Keim, 18, 86, 95, 165, 204 
Kiel, 165 

Klostermann, 165, 334 
Knowling, 342 
Konigsmann, 333 
Kostlin, 86, 124, 204 
Knopf, 333 
Kiibel, 340 
Kuinoel, 165, 204 

Lachmann, 124, 165, 289 

Lake, 333, 334 

Lamb, 265 

Lange, 95, 115, 131, 134, 165, 202, 

289 
Lardrier, 86, 202 
Latimer, 184 
Lechler, 341 



INDEX OF NAMES 



345 



Lee, 86 

Lessing, 293 

Lightfoot, 86, 165, 181, 214, 330, 

t 3 41 
Loisy, 339 

Luckok, 115 

Lumby, 202, 289, 342 

Luthardt, 165 

Luther, 177, 184, 247, 331 

Lysanias, 215 

Macarius, 166, 167 

Macaulay, 311 

Maclaren, 266 

Maclean, 123, 124, 163, 165 

Maclear, 340 

Martin, 337 

Matthsei, 165 

McClellan, 165 

McClymont, 337 

McGiffert, 86, 341 

Melanchthon, 184 

Menzies, 340 

Meyer, 95, 124, 134, 165, 204, 323 

MichaeUs, 89, 165, 173, 202, 204, 

337 
MiU, 165 
Miller, 165 
Milligan, 337 
Milman, 288 
Moffatt, 292, 334, 337 
Moody, 134, 316 
Moorehead, 93 

Morison, 86, 121, 146, 165, 340 
Moulton, 294 

Neander, 311, 341 
Nestle, 167 
Nestorius, 166 
Neudecker, 289 
Nicephorus, 116 
Norden, 333 
Norton, 165, 289 

(Ecolampadius, 184 
Olshausen, 86, 95, 115, 165 
Origen, 84, 85, 116, 121, 246, 303 
Overbeck, 333 

Page, 342 
Paley, 331 

Pantaenus, 85, 96, 116 
Papias, 80, 85, 119, 120 

Paradise Lost, 18 



Patton, 297, 339 

Paulus, 86 

Paul Veronese, 36 

Peake, 12, 13, 337 

Petrie, 339 

Pfleiderer, 333, 341 

Philip, 215 

Pilate, 158, 215 

Plummer, 190, 204, 218, 223, 247, 

263, 334, 340 
Plumptre, 179, 290, 297, 340 
Plutarch, 324, 327 
Pullan, 337 
Purves, 341 

Quirinius, 215 

Rackham, 323, 324, 329, 342 
Ramsay, 179, 204, 217, 223, 323, 

330, 333, 334, 342 
Raphael, 140 
Renan, 17, 96, 177, 204, 222, 224, 

290, 334, 34i 
Resch, 165, 168 
Reuss, 86, 124, 165, 204, 337 
Reville, 87 
Ridley, 184 
Riggenbach, 128 
Ritschl, 86, 124, 165, 341 
Roberts, 86 
Robinson, 164, 338 
Ropes, 341 
Rossetti, 189 
Row, 290 

Rushbrooke, 284, 339 
Ruskin, 117 

Salmon, 86, 124, 165, 170, 171, 

172, 327, 337, 338 
Salmond, 124, 153, 165, 340 
Sanday, 95, 201, 204, 223, 270, 

337, 338, 339 
Schaff, 86, 131, 165, 184, 190, 191, 
202, 216, 262, 290, 297, 311, 332, 

341 

Schenkel, 124, 165, 204 
Schleiermacher, 165, 219, 293 
Schmiedel, 296 
Scholten, 124, 165 
Scholz, 165 
Schott, 86, 204 
Schulthess, 174 
Schulz, 165, 174 
Schurer, 12, 333 



346 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 



Scott, 192 

Scott-Moncrief , 339 
Scrivener, 165 
Selwyn, 341 
Sergius Paulus, 107 
Shakespeare, 177, 264 
Slater, 340 
Smith, 192, 332, 342 
Socrates, 34 
Soltau, 334 
Sorof, 334 

Spitta, 323, 333, 342 
Stanton, 292, 338 
Stevenson, 94 
Stier, 165 
Stokes, 342 
Storr, 124, 165 
Strabo, 330 
Streeter, 139 
Strong, 337 
Stroud, 279 
Stuart, 86 
Swete, 165, 340 

Tennyson, 147 

Tertullian, 120, 121, 168, 303 

Theodore, 19 

Theodoret, 168 

Theodoretus, 19 

Theodorus Lector, 190 

Theodosius, 114 

Theophylact, 183 

Thiersch, 86, 124, 204, 290 

Tholuck, 56, 202, 204 

Thomas, 20 

Thompson, 284, 339 

Thomson, 72, 86, 115, 130, 165, 

202, 290 
Thucydides, 191 
Tiberius, 215 
Tillemont, 99 



Tischendorf, 86, 165, 171 

Van Oosterzee, 216 

Vigoroux, 330 

Victor of Antioch, 123, 168 

Vogel, 334 

Volkmar, 124, 339 

Voltaire, 241 

Wace, 165 
Warfield, 165 
Warren, 116 

Weiss, 21, 86, 89, 93, 95, 124, 140, 
141, 165, 204, 290, 294, 334, 337, 

339, 340, 341, 342 
Weiss, J., 334, 339, 340, 342 
Weisse, 124, 293 
Weizsacker, 124, 334, 338, 341 
Wellhausen, 294, 340, 341 
Wendt, 290, 334, 342 
Werale, 338, 339, 341 
Wesley, 177, 184, 310, 311 
Westcott, 160, 165, 166, 228, 229, 

279, 289, 297, 331, 338 
Weston, 93 
Wetstein, 86, 165 
Whitefield, 184 
Wieseler, 165, 202 
Wilke, 86, 124 
Willett, 337 
Wilson, 217 
Wolf, 165 
Wordsworth, 165 
Wright, 95, 124, 284, 289, 338, 339 

Zahn, 13, 17, 18, 86, 115, 135, 158, 
165, 168, 196, 294, 295, 323, 334, 

337, 340 
Zeller, 165, 204, 334, 342 
Zockler, 309, 340 
Zwingli, 184 



II. INDEX OF TEXTS 



Exodus 

4. 22, 23, 150 
Numbers 

12. 6, 77 
Deuteronomy 

23. 3, 6, 64 
I Samuel 

28. 6, 77 
Isaiah 

11. i, 40 
Joel 

2. 28, 78 
Micah 

5. 2, 40 
Zechariah 

4. 14, 304; II. 12, 13, 46 
Malachi 

3- I, 125 
Matthew 

I. i. 39. 54. 206; 1. 17, 76; 

1. 19, 47; 1. 20, 78; 1. 22, 44; 

2. 1-12, 65; 2. 1-23, 76; 2. 2, 
53, 55, 207; 2. 5, 46; 2. 6, 40, 
45, 90; 2. 11, 54; 2. 12, 58, 78; 
2. 13, 54, 58, 78; 2. 14, 54, 58; 
2. 14, 15, 65; 2. 15, 44, 45; 
2. 17, 44, 45; 2. 19, 20, 78; 2. 
20, 54; 2. 21, 54; 2. 22, 58; 

2. 23, 40, 44, 78; 3. 1-4, 11, 76; 
3- 2, 51, 55; 3. 3, 45, 207, 271; 

3. 5, 280; 3. 7, 68; 3. 9, 65, 69; 

3. 15, 47; 4- 1-11,76, 276:4.4, 
46; 4. 5, 42; 4. 6, 46; 4. 7, 46; 

4. 8, 83; 4. 10, 46; 4. 12, 58; 
4. 12-17, 45; 4. 14, 44, 45, 62; 

4. 15, 16,90:4. 17, 5154.23, 51; 

5. 1, 81, 278; 5. 3, 51; 5. 6, 47; 
5. 10, 47, 51; 5. 14, 83; 5. 17, 
40, 91; 5. 19, 51; 5. 20, 48, 51; 

5. 21, 46; 5. 27, 46; 5. 31, 46; 

5- 33, 46; 5- 34-37, 70; 5- 35, 
42; 5. 38, 46; 5. 43, 46; 5. 45, 
48; 5. 48, 250; 6. 1, 48, 50: 6. 
1-18, 76; 6. 9, 50: 6. 9-13, 281; 

6. 33, 48, 50; 7- 7, 76; 7- 7-15, 
76: 7. 9-10, 249; 7. 11, 252, 
306: 7. 14, 59; 7. 15, 62; 7. 17, 
45; 7. 22, 76; 7. 23, 41; 7. 29, 



56; 8. 1-15, 76; 8. 2, 136, 153; 
8. 5, 281 ; 8. 10, 65; 8. 11, 12, 66; 

8. 12, 69; 8. 16, 162; 8. 17, 44, 
45; 8. 19-22, 249; 8. 25, 153, 
279; 8. 27, 55; 8. 29, 55; 9. 6, 
273; 9- 9, 22, 36; 9. 9-19, 22; 

9. 11, 48; 9. 13, 31; 9. 14, 48; 

9. 14-17, 77; 9. 15-17, 32; 9. 

18, 28159. 18-33, 7659-24, 53; 
9- 27, 54; 9. 34, 69; 9. 35, 51; 

10. 3, 20, 37; 10. 5, 6, 41, 215; 

10. 9, 71; 10. 10, 280; 10. 37, 
38, 77; 10. 41, 49; 11. 2, 62; 

11. 10, 46; 11. 21, 66; 11. 23, 
24, 66; 12. 1-14, 281; 12. 2, 48; 

12. 3, 47, 54; 12. 5, 47; 12. 15, 
58; 12. 15-21, 45; 12. 17,44,45; 

12. 23, 54; 12. 24, 69; 12. 28, 
50; 12. 38-42, 77; 12. 41, 42, 
276; 12. 43-45, 60; 12. 45, 76; 
13- 1-32, 77f 13- 11, 52; 13. 14, 
44; 13. 15, 61; 13. 17, 49; 13. 

16. 162; 13. 19, 51; 13. 24, 52; 

13. 31, 52, 261; 13. 33, 52; 13. 
35, 44; 13. 41, 41, 56; 13. 43, 
49; 13- 44, 52; 13- 45, 52; 13. 
47, 52; 13. 49, 495 13- 52, 52; 
13. 55, 162; 13. 58, 161; 14. 2, 
280; 14. 5, 281; 14. 12, 62; 14. 

13. 58; 14. 19, 271; 14. 23, 83; 

14. 33, 163; 15. 2, 48; 15. 13, 
60; 15. 21, 58; 15. 22, 54; 15. 
24, 41; 15. 28, 65; 15. 29, 83; 

15. 34, 76; 15. 37, 76; 16. 9, 
163; 16. 12, 69; 16. 18, 67; 16. 

19, 56; 16. 28, 148; 17. 1, 81, 
281; 17. 4, 153; 17. 11-13, 62; 

17. 15, 154; 17. 20, 83; 17. 23, 
163; 17. 25, 70; 18. 1-4, 51; 

18. 6, 10, 14, 77; 18. 12, 83, 
248; 18. 17, 67; 18. 21, 22, 76; 

19. 4, 47; 19. 17, 162; 19. 24, 
50, 279; 19. 28, 42, 57; 20. 12, 
13, 59; 20. 29-34, 282; 20. 30, 
54; 20. 31, 54; 21. 1, 83; 21. 4, 
44; 21. 5, 55; 21. 9, 55; 21. 12, 

42; 21. 12, 13, 55; 21. 13, 46; 
21. 15, 54; 21. 16, 47; 21. 19, 



347 



348 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 



60; 21. 21, 83; 21. 31, 50; 21. 

31, 32, 38; 21. 32, 49, 68; 21. 
42, 47; 21. 43, 50, 60, 66; 22. 2, 
52; 22. 9, 54, 66; 22. 14, 59; 

22. 15-40, 77; 22. 19, 70; 22. 
25, 76; 22. 31, 47; 22. 44, 271; 

23. 2, 3, 41; 23. 13-36, 62; 23. 
13, 69; 23. 15, 69; 23. 16-22, 
70; 23. 21, 42; 23. 23, 69; 23. 

25, 69; 23. 27, 69; 23. 28, 41, 
49; 23. 29, 49, 69; 23. 33, 60, 
68, 69; 23. 35, 49; 23. 38, 60; 

24. 1, 60; 24. 3, 81, 83; 24. 11, 
62; 24. 12, 41, 59; 24. 14, 51, 
277; 24. 15, 42, 203; 24. 15, 16, 
82; 24. 16, 83125. 1,53:25. 13. 
258; 25. 31, 57; 25. 32-46, 62; 

25. 34, 53, 57; 25. 37, 49; 25. 
41, 53; 25. 46, 49; 26. 13, 51; 

26. 22, 154; 26. 24, 45, 46; 26. 
26-29, 277; 26. 30, 83; 26. 31, 
46; 26. 39-44, 77; 26. 47, 136; 

26. 52-55, 55; 26. 53, 57; 26. 
54, 44; 26. 56, 44; 26. 61, 42; 

26. 64, 55; 26. 69-75, 77; 26. 
71, 282; 27. 4, 49; 27. 5, 58; 

27. 9, 44, 46; 27. 11, 55; 27. 17, 
22, 23, 77; 27. 19, 50, 65, 78; 
27. 24, 50; 27. 28, 29, 55; 27. 
35, 61; 27. 37, 55; 27. 39, 58; 

27. 42, 55; 27. 45, 57; 27. 46, 
58; 27. 49, 280; 27. 50, 57; 27. 
51-53, 42, 57; 27. 62, 69; 27. 
63, 69; 28. 1, 282; 28. 16, 82; 

28. 18, 56; 28. 18, 19, 67; 28. 
18-20, 77; 28. 19, 42, 62, 67 

Mark 

1. 3, 271; 1. 5, 126, 136; 1. 10, 
130; 1. 12, 130, 131, 152; 1. 13, 
137; 1. 16, 142; 1. 18, 130; 1. 
20, 130; 1. 21, 45, 130; 1. 22, 
139; I- 23, 130; 1. 24, 152; 
1. 25, 143; I. 27, 139, 148; 1. 
28, 130; 1. 29, 130; 1. 29-32, 
142; 1. 30, 130; 1. 32, 33, 162; 
1. 35, 132, 153; i- 35-38, 152; 
1. 36, 142; 1. 37, 136; 1. 38, 
141; 1. 40, 136, 153; 1. 41, 161; 

1. 42, 130; 1. 43, 130, 161; 1. 44, 
136; 1. 45, 132, 136, 137, 161; 

2. 2, 136; 2. 11, 273; 2. 12, 139, 
149; 2. 13, 136; 2. 14, 137; 2. 
14-19, 20; 2. 14-22, 22; 2. 18, 
126; 2. 23, 136; 3. 1-26, 158; 



3. 5, 138, 152, 153, 161; 3. 7, 
58, 131; 3. 15, 158; 3. 16-19, 
37; 3. 17, 120, 126; 3. 18,20,37; 

3. 20, 129, 136, 152; 3. 21, 152, 
156, 161; 3. 27, 136; 4. 1, 136; 

4. 8, 137; 4. 11, 158; 4. 13, 162; 

4. 15, 158; 4. 21, 128; 4. 26-29, 
152, 156; 4. 31, 261; 4. 37-40, 
153; 4- 38, 137, 153, 279; 4. 41, 
139; 5- 7, 8, 273; 5- 9, 161; 5. 9, 
15, 128; 5. 22, 137; 5. 23, 281; 

5. 25, 26, 228; 5. 30, 161; 5. 41, 
126, 137; 5. 42, 149; 6. 2, 139, 
149; 6. 3, 125, 156, 162; 6. 5, 
152, 161; 6. 6, 132, 138, 153, 
161; 6. 7, 137; 6. 8, 71; 6. 8, 9, 
280; 6. 16, 280; 6. 19, 158; 6. 
19, 20, 281; 6. 22, 158; 6. 27* 
128; 6. 30, 132; 6. 30-32, 153; 

6. 31, 129, 131, 132, 152, 141; 
6. 34, 138, 153; 6. 37, 128; 6. 
38, 161; 6. 41, 271; 6. 46, 131; 
6. 48, 161; 6. 51, 139, 149; 6. 
52, 163; 7. 3, 4, 126; 7. 4, 8, 
128; 7. 11, 126; 7. 19, 156; 7. 
24, 131, 132, 161; 7. 28, 154, 
249; 7. 31, 131; 7. 31-35, 152; 

7- 32-37, 156; 7- 33, 138; 7- 34, 
126, 137, 153; 7. 37, 149; 8. 2, 
153; 8. 12, 138, 152, 153, 161; 
8. 14, 137; 8. 17, 141, 162; 8. 
18, 157; 8. 22-26, 144, 152, 156; 

8. 23, 161; 8. 28, 142; 8. 29, 147; 
8.31, 141; 8. 33, 145:9- 1, 148; 

9. 2, 131, 132, 281; 9. 2-9, 153; 
9. 5, 154; 9. 6, 146; 9. 10, 163; 

9. 12, 161; 9. 16, 161; 9. 17, 
154; 9. 21, 161; 9. 26, 162; 9. 
30, 161; 9. 32, 163; 9. 33, 161; 
9- 33. 34, 163; 9. 41, 158; 10. 3, 
161; 10. 14, 138, 152, 153, 161; 

10. 17, 138; 10. 18, 162; 10. 21, 
138, 153, 161; 10. 22, 138; 10. 
24, 139; 10. 25, 279; 10. 26, 139; 
10. 32, 138, 139, 141; 10. 28, 
136; 10. 41, 136; 10. 46, 126, 
137; 10. 46-52, 282; 10. 47, 136; 

10. 50, 139; 10. 51, 137, 154: 

11. 1, 131; 11. 11, 132; 11, 12, 
153; 11. 15, 138; 11. 17, 277; 

11. 19, 132; 11. 21, 143; 12. 8, 
151; 12. 12, 158; 12. 14, 128; 12. 
15, 128; 12. 18, 126; 12. 36, 271; 

12. 41, 137; 12. 42, 128; 13. 3, 



INDEX OF TEXTS 



349 



126; 13.3,4, 137; 13. 10,277; 13. 
14, 158, 203; 13. 32, 152; 13. 

33. 258; 13. 55, 156; 14. 5, 128; 
14. 6, 141; 14. 12, 126; 14. 13, 
114; 14. 14, 161; 14. 19, 154; 
14. 22-25, 277; 14- 33, 138; 14. 

34, 131; 14. 36, 126, 137; 14. 
37, 146; 14. 40, 163; 14. 50, 141; 
14.51,52, 115, 157; 14.60, 139; 

14. 65, 158; 14. 68, 137; 14. 69, 
282; 14. 72, 158; 15. 6, 126; 

15. 15, 128; 15. 16, 128; 15. 21, 
137; 15. 22, 126; 15. 34, 126; 

15. 36, 280; 15. 37, 57; 15. 39, 
147; 15. 40, 20, 21, 137; 15. 42, 
126; 15. 44, 158; 16. 2, 169, 282; 

16. 7, 143; 16. 8, 167, 173, 174; 
16. 9, 169; 16. 9-20, 164-174; 
16. 17, 18, 167; 16. 19, 154; 
16. 20, 148, 155 

Luke 

1. 1-4, 199, 287; 1. 3, 178, 217; 
1.3,4,217; 1. 4,290; 1. 5,217; 

1. 10, 261; 1. 19, 209; 1. 26-38, 
238; 1. 28-33, 261; 1. 46-48, 
232; 1. 46-55, 261; 1. 52, 53, 
238; I. 64, 263; 1. 68, 253; 1. 
68-79, 261; 1. 80, 199; 2. 1, 

215; 2. I, 2, 215, 217; 2. 4-7, 
253; 2. 7, 238; 2. 8-20, 239; 

2. 10, 207, 209; 2. 13, 263; 2. 
14, 262; 2. 20, 263; 2. 21, 253; 
2. 21, 22, 217; 2. 22, 253; 2. 22- 
24, 239; 2. 25-38, 239; 2. 28, 
263; 2. 29-32, 214, 262; 2. 38, 
253; 2. 40, 199, 253; 2. 41-52, 
221; 2. 42, 217; 2. 42-46, 254; 

2. 51, 254: 2. 52, I99, 254; 3. I, 

215; 3. I, 2, 215, 217; 3. 3, 51, 
280; 3. 4, 271; 3. 5, 6, 207; 3. 7, 
68; 3. 11, 239; 3. 12, 20, 31; 

3. 15, 225; 3. 18, 209; 3. 18-20, 

217; 3. 21, 256; 3. 23, 217; 

3. 23-38, I99; 3. 38, 40, 206; 

4. 1-13, 276; 4. 8, 224; 4. 10, 
263; 4. 16-30, 221; 4. 18, 195, 

209, 224, 239; 4. 22, 210, 249; 
4. 23, 224; 4. 24-27, 251; 4. 25- 
30, 207; 4. 29, 213; 4. 31, 206, 

261; 4. 33-37, 200; 4. 38, 39, 
226; 4. 43, 209; 5. 4-1 1, 219; 
5- 5, 259; 5. 8, 9, 225; 5. n, 
240; 5. 12, 224; 5. 16, 256; 5. 
24, 273; 5. 25, 26, 263; 5. 27, 



19; 5- 27-39. 22; 5. 28, 36, 240; 
6. 1-11, 281; 6. 11, 225; 6. 12, 
13, 257; 6. 14-16, 37; 6. 15, 19, 
20, 37; 6. 17, 278; 6. 17, 18, 
224; 6. 20, 240; 6. 21, 47, 240; 
6. 22, 48; 6. 24, 240; 6. 25, 240; 

6. 35, 243; 6. 36, 250; 6. 39, 
249; 7. 3, 281; 7. 11-15, 234; 

7. 11-17, 202, 220, 224; 7. 16, 
263; 7. 22, 209; 7. 36-50, 200, 
221, 235, 244, 259; 7. 39, 225; 

7. 41-43, 220; 7. 48, 210; 8. 1, 
209; 8. 2, 3, 200, 233; 8. 3, 201; 

8. 15, 249; 8. 24, 259, 279; 8. 
28, 29, 273; 8. 38, 200; 8. 43, 
228; 8. 51, 203; 9. 1, 224; 9. 
1-6, 215; 9. 2, 224; 9. 3, 71; 

9. 6, 209, 224; 9. 7, 280; 9. 16, 
271; 9. 18-22, 257; 9. 26, 263; 

9. 28, 203, 281; 9. 28, 29, 257; 

9- 33, 259; 9- 46-48, 51; 9- 49, 
200, 259; 9. 49-54, 221; 9. 52- 
55, 251; 9-53, 213; 10. 1, 113; 

10. 1-20, 183; 10. 8, 249; 10. 9, 
224; 10. 25, 53; 10. 25-37, 220; 

10. 30-37, 252; 10. 38-42, 200, 
221, 234, 259; 11. 1-4, 257; 11. 
2-4, 281; 11. 5-9, 258; 11. 5-8, 
220; 11. 11, 12, 249; 11. 13, 252; 

11. 14, 54; 11. 27, 200, 236; 
11. 31, 32, 276; 11. 37-52, 259; 
II. 51, 49; 12. 8, 9, 263; 12. 
16-21, 220, 240; 12. 31, 49; 12. 
35-48, 220; 13. 6-9, 220; 13. 
10-17, 220, 224, 235; 13. 13, 
263; 13. 19, 261; 13. 23-29, 251; 

13. 31, 261; 13. 32, 201; 14. 1-6, 
224, 260; 14. 1-7, 220; 14. 7-1 1, 
220, 241, 260; 14. 12-14, 260; 

14. 15-24, 260; 14. 16, 53; 14. 
16-24, 220; 14. 21, 241; 14. 28- 
30, 220; 14. 31, 32, 220; 14. 33, 
240; 15. 3-10, 220; 15. 10, 263; 

15. 11, 53; 15- n-32, 244; 16. 
1-13, 220; 16. 16, 209; 16. 19- 
26, 226; 16. 19-31, 220, 240; 
17. 7-10, 220; 17. 11, 19, 220, 
224, 252; 17. 13, 259; 17. 15, 
263; 18. 1, 258; 18. 1-8, 220, 
234, 258; 18. 7, 258; 18. 9-14, 
258; 18. 10-14, 220; 18. 15-17, 
230; 18. 25, 226, 279; 18. 35- 
43, 282; 18. 41, 154; 18. 43, 263; 
19. 1-10, 221; 19. 2-10, 244; 



350 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 

19. 6-9, 260; 19. n-27, 220; 9. 34, 305, 325; 9. 36-42, 325; 

19- 37. 263; 19. 41-44, 254; 10. 1, 325; 10. 1-48, 317; 10. 

19. 46, 277; 20. 1, 209; 20. 36, 3-7, 326; 10. 9, 10, 224; 10. 9- 

263; 20. 42, 43, 271; 21. 5-36, 16, 326; 10. 13-16, 305; 10. 16, 

202; 21. 8-19, 277; 21. 36, 249, 326; 10. 26, 326; 10. 28, 326; 

258; 22. 1, 206; 22. 17-19, 277; 10. 36-40, 143; 10. 36-43, 305; 

22. 19, 248; 22. 20, 248; 22. 27, 10. 38, 130, 308; 10. 44, 308; 
242; 22. 31, 32, 145, 257; 22. 10. 46, 326; II. 5-10, 326; 11. 

32, 104; 22. 40, 258; 22. 43, 255, 13, 306; 11. 19-30, 193; ii- 24, 
263; 22. 44, 224, 255; 22. 48, 307; 11. 25, 335; 11. 26, 313, 
255; 22. 50, 51, 220; 22. 51, 335; 11. 27, 193; 11. 28, 202, 
224; 22. 58, 282; 23. 5-12, 201; 215; 11. 30, 335; 12. 2, 303; 

23. 23, 213; 23. 27, 28, 236; 23. 12. 6-12, 325; 12. 12, 99, 101; 
27-29, 200; 23. 34, 257; 23. 40- 12. 12, 25, 100, 102; 12. 13, 
43, 221, 244; 23. 43, 211; 23. 101; 12. 23, 224; 12. 25, 335; 
46, 57, 255, 257; 23. 47, 255; 13. 1, 201; 13. 1-3, 193; 13. 2, 
23. 49, 200; 23. 50, 51, 242; 107, 307; 13. 4, 307; 13. 5, 13, 

23. 56, 200; 24. 1, 200, 282; 100, 102; 13. 6-11, 325; 13. 7, 

24. 3, 249; 24. 10, 201; 24. 13- 107; 13. 11, 226; 13. 12, 325; 
35, 202, 221; 24. 21, 253; 24. 13. 13, 102, 107; 14. 8-10, 325; 

23, 263; 24. 34, 248; 24. 30, 31, 14. 12-14, 326; 14. 15, 326; 15. 
260524. 39-43, 256124. 41,225; 1-3, 193; 15. 28, 307; 15. 30- 

24. 47, 214, 251; 24. 52, 53, 226; 40, 193; 15. 37, 100; 15. 37-40, 
24.53,261,263 185; 15. 39, 100, 103, in; 16. 

Jnhn 6, 7, 305; 16. 10, 182, 305; 16. 

TAO TO- S T7 KA- 6 T <! «8 • I0 ~ 17 ' 335i l6 ' I2 ' 3 3U l6 ' * 4 ' 

6* 66 i?i- 5 ii 7, i6 4 20- If' « 305; 16. 14-16, 317; 16. 18, 325; 

L 'i 2 20 8 18 10 u' l6 ' 2 5"34, 317, 325; 16. 31, 305; 

?Q 4 2 < 21 IQ to « "21 2 20- *' "• l82 ' "* 6 ' 330; 18. 2, 

1 9 t' £ 2 ; 1\r ' 57, ■ 2i s; i8 - 9, 305; is. s, 317; is. 

21. 25, 275, 318 12-17, 180; 18. 14-17, 325; 18. 

Acts 25, 310; 19. 6, 307, 326; 19. 

1. 1, 304; 1. 13, 37, 303; 1. 14, 9. 3io; 19. 11, 15, 325; 19. 
319; 1. 22, 143; 1. 26, 303; 2. 4, 12, 325; 19. 23, 310; 20. 5, 
308; 2. 13, 325; 2. 22, 23, 155; 6, 182; 20. 5-15, 335; 20. 9-12, 

2. 22-24, 143; 2. 32, 155; 2. 32- 325; 20. 28, 307; 20. 33, 325; 

33, 304; 2. 32-36, 305; 2. 34, 21. 1-18, 335; 21. 8-10, 335; 
155; 2. 36, 155; 2. 36-47, 316; 21. 15-18, 182; 21. 16, 201; 22. 
2. 38, 307; 2. 47, 263; 3. 1-12, 4, 3io; 22. 7, 8, 10, 326; 23. 6, 
303; 3. 2-10, 325; 3. 6, 305, 9, 326; 23. 26, 194; 24. 3, 194; 
325; 3. 7, 224; 3. 8, 263; 3- 9, 24. 14, 310; 24. 22, 310; 26. 13- 
263; 3. 13, 151; 3- 16, 304, 305; 18, 326; 26. 22, 23, 305; 26. 24, 
4. 27, 150; 5--I-H. 325; 5- 15, 325; 26. 25, 194; 28. 6, 326; 
325; 5. 16, 325; 5. 17, 34, 326; 28. 7, 331; 28. 8, 224, 325; 28. 
5- 34-39, 325; 5- 42, 305; 6. 3, 9, 325 

308; 6. 5, 192; 6. 5, 10, 307; Romans 

7- 55, 56, 305; 7- 58, 335; 8. 1, 2 l6 6 2 I9 249 I2 ! 2 

ffg! |- ^^v-g 7 '^ 5 ^- 1 !' W 16 8, 179; 16. 13, 127; 

?7-2o!' 32 4 6; 3 8 03 'i 8 8:24 7 ; 3 3 25;' 8. ^ ' 5 ' * 79; *' ^ ^ 

27-40, 317; 9. 1-19, 317; 9. 1- 1 Corinthians 

30, 335; 9- 2, 310; 9- 3-6, 305; 9- 5, 3i8; 10. 27, 249; 11. 24, 

9. 3-8, 326; 9. 10-17, 326; 9- 248; II. 25, 248; 13. 5, in; 13. 

17, 307; 9- 18, 224; 9. 31, 308; 13, 248; 15. 5, 248; 16. 5, 179 



INDEX OF TEXTS 



35i 



2 Corinthians 

1. 9, 186; 8. 9, 238; 8. 18, 19, 
183; 11. 23-27, 320 

Galatians 

2. 11-18, 104; 4. 13, 185; 6. 6, 
291 

Ephesians 

4. 4-6, 248; 6. 18, 249 
Philippians 

1. 13, 181; 2. 7, 15054. 22, 181 
Colossians 

1. 10, 11, 249; 4. 6, 249; 4. 10, 

100, 104, 178, 199; 4. 10, 11, 

99; 4. 10-14, 191; 4- n» 103; 

4. 12, 179; 4. 14, 178, 179, 185, 

199 
1 Timothy 

5- 17, 291 



2 Timothy 

2. 8, 246; 4. 10, II, 178; 4. 11, 
100, 103, 178, 182 

Titus 

3- 13, 179 
Philemon 

24, 100, 103, 178, 199 
James 

3. 9, 263 . 

1 Peter 

5. 10, 104; 5. 13, 100, 101, 103, 
185 

2 Peter 

1. 18, 81 
Revelation 

2. 13, 179; 2. 17, 20; 3. 9, 93; 

3. 17, 93; 11. 3, 4, 304 



III. INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



Accuracy of Luke, 217-218, 329- 

333 
Activity and rest of Jesus, 129- 

133 

Acts of Paul and Thecla, 243 
Adventures of Paul, 320 
Angels, in Luke, 263-264 
Apocalypse of John, 92-93 
Apostle groups, 32-33 
Augustine on Mark, 123, 124 
Authorship traditional, sustained, 
12-14 

Barnabas, 193, 195 

and Mark, 102 
Bartimaeus, 282 
Beatitudes, 76 
Benedictus, 282 
Bible, a Jewish book, 205 
Blind man cured, 144 

Call of Matthew, 22-33 
Catechism instruction, 290-291 
Cathedral of Saint Mark, 117- 

118, 159 
Catholicity of first Gospel, 17 
Children, no, in John, 229-230 
Church in Antioch, 192-193 
Claudia Procla, 50, 79 
Coins of Palestine, 71, 72 
Colden, Cadwalleder, 24 
Commission, the great, 42, 82-83 
Complaint of Pharisees, 31 
Contradictions in Synoptics, 280- 

282 
Contrasts in Acts, 324 
in Luke, 223 
Conversions in Acts, 316-317 
Cornelius, 143 

Cowardice of Mark, 106-107 
Crucifixion of Jesus, 57 
Cry of dereliction, 58-59 

Demas, 177 

Denunciation of the Pharisees, 56, 

60, 62, 68-69 
Diminutives in Mark, 136 



Disciples' Prayer, 75 
Discourses, minor, of Jesus, 80 
Documentary theory, 293-294, 
296 

Earliest and latest sayings of 

Jesus, 212 
Educated leaders, 195 
Epistles of Paul, 319-320 

Faith of Gentiles, 65 
Feast, Matthew's, 28-32 
First and Second Gospels con- 
trasted, 45-46, 160-163 
First Gospel, unequaled, 18 
Fool, the rich, 240-241 

Gallio and Paul, 1 80-1 81 
Genealogy of Luke, 206-207 

of Matthew, 39-40, 53, 
62-64, 74-75 
Gloria in excelsis, 261 
Gospels, primitive, 291-292 
Graciousness of Jesus, 209-213 

Healing of infirm woman, 229- 

230 
Hebrew Matthew, the, 85-86 
Hebrews, Epistle to, 91 
Herod the Great, 53-54, 215 
Holy Spirit in Acts, 306-308 

in Luke, 252 
Homesickness of Mark, 105-106 
Humanity of Jesus, 253-261 
Hymns in Luke, 261-263 

Imagination, legitimate, 196 
Importance of first Gospel, 17-19 
Individual responsibility, 33~34 
Inspiration not mechanical, 285- 
286 

Jairus, 32 

James, Epistle of, 92 
James the Less, 20 
Jealousy of Mark, 107-108 



352 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



353 



Jesus astonishing people, 148-149 
authority of, 55-57 
his disabilities, 1 61-162 
his human emotions, 160- 

161 
no respecter of persons, 27- 
28 

Jewish priority, 41 

John the Baptist, 31-32, 50, 62 

Joseph, 47, 78 

Joseph of Arimathaea, 242 

Joses, 21 

Judas, 38 

Kingliness of Jesus, 54-55 

Law and tradition, 41 

Lord, the title, in Mark, 153-155 

Lucanus the poet, 179-182, 187, 
198 

Luke and Herod's court, 200-201 
and Mark, 200 
and women, 200 
the historian, 215-216 

Magnificat, 261 

Mark, his martyrdom, 116 

his symbol, 105, 119, 151 
stump-fingered, 100, 135 
Mary and Martha, 211, 234 
Mary Magdalene, 169, 233 
Mary, mother of Jesus, 54, 231- 

233, 319 
Mary, mother of Mark, 101 
Mary, mother of Matthew, 20 
Matthew, a new name, 19-20 
meaning of name, 19 
a man of means, 36 
a modest man, 36-38 
a pessimist, 35, 59-61 
a publican, 23-25, 37, 
68-72 
Miracles in Mark, 144, 147-148 
in Matthew, 73, 88 
in Luke, 219-220 
Modesty of Peter, 144-146 

Nazareth, Jesus at, 209-210 
Nicolas of Antioch, 192 
Nunc Dimittis, 262 



Oral Tradition Theory, 289-293, 

296 
Oriental memory, 290-291 

Palsied man cured, 26-27 
Parables in Luke, 220, 221 

of the Kingdom, 52, 73 
Parallels in history, 327-328 
Paul and Luke, 226 

and Mark, 103-104, 109-110 
Pentateuch and Matthew, 42-43 
Personality and authorship, 11- 

12, 83-85, 86-88 
Peter and Mark, 101-102, 104, 

120-123, 141-146, 185 
Pharisee and publican, 37 
Polemic in Matthew, 89-90 
Politarchs in Macedonia, 330-331 
Poverty of Jesus, 238 
Prayer parables of Luke, 258 
Prayers of Jesus, 256-259 
Preface of Luke, 286-287 
Prodigal Son, 210, 244 
Program of second Gospel, 143 
Prophecy, Old Testament, 40, 43- 

47 

Psychologist, Luke as, 224-226 
Publican, the Jewish, 23-25 

Rahab, 63 

Redemption, in Luke, 253 

Relationships of Matthew, 20-21 

Revelation in dreams, 77-79 

Rome and Mark, 126-128 

Rufus, 127-128 

Ruth, 63-64 

Samaritans and Jesus, 251-252 
Scholasticism, 288 
Seneca and Paul, 181 
Serapis, 116 

Sermon on the mount, 79, 278 
Sermons in Acts, 315-316 
Seventy sent, 214 
Simon of Cyrene, 127 
Social life of Jesus, 259-261 
Social outcasts, 244-245 
Son of David, 54 
Sympathy of Jesus, 243 



Oaths, 70-71 

Odds against Christianity, 313 



Table of Synoptic coincidences, 
279 



354 THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND THE ACTS 



Temple tax, 70 

Texts of Jesus, 51, 209-210, 239- 

240 
Theophilus, 187, 194, 197 
Thief, the dying, 21 1-2 12, 244 
Thomas Didymus, 20-21, 37 
Titus, 319 
Tribute money, 70 
Trust in riches, 241-243 

Unclean meats, 156-157 
Unfinished book, one, 323 
Unity of authorship, 86-87 
University at Tarsus, 186 
Upper room, 114 



Vegetarianism of Matthew, 33 
Versatility of Luke, 199, 218 
Vocabulary of Luke, 222-223, 250 

Walk to Emmaus, 183 
Woes unto the rich, 240 
Woman who was a sinner, 210, 

235, 244 
Women in the genealogy, 62-64 
Words of Jesus, 275 
Widows, in Luke, 234-235 
Wise Men, 53 

Zacchaeus the publican, 37, 211, 
242,244 






>o^. ^: + ^ x oo, \t_'. • 



